FULLERTON, Calif. – The UC Riverside Highlanders (14-10, 4-4) went into Titan Gym at Cal State Fullerton (9-15, 4-5) on Wednesday night, February 5, looking for a season sweep against their Big West Conference opponent, but ran into a Titans team that played like their namesake, and came up short in a 61-43 loss on the road.  
 
Brandon Kamga scored 19 points and Jackson Rowe had 14 points and five assists for Cal State Fullerton. The Titans evened the season series against the Highlanders with the victory following UCR's win over Fullerton 65-59 back on January 11 in the Highlanders home SRC Arena.
 
The game started with UCR committing three turnovers on the first three possessions which put the Highlanders in a 6-0 hole without taking a shot attempt, before Head Coach David Patrick called a quick timeout to rally his squad. Following the timeout, UCR went on a 7-0 run, but lost momentum after Fullerton capitalized on 10 first half turnovers committed by the Highlanders, and the Titans went into the break with a 32-27 lead.
 
Commenting on his team's turnover woes tonight, Coach Patrick stated, "Those three turnovers set the tone for the rest of the game. That is not how we have been playing over the past month. We have been taking care of the basketball. But hats off to Fullerton. They came out and hit us in the mouth and we just didn't respond."
 
The Titans outscored UCR 29-21 in the second half and led by as many as 14 with 4:30 left in the game. Unfortunately, the Highlanders couldn't get over the hump and just didn't have an answer tonight for the physical play of the Titan defense. UCR shot 43% from the floor for the game, but just 3 of 14 from beyond the arc. 
 
"We were playing at the end of shot clocks too much, we weren't able to drive and when we did, the ball was getting deflected or bobbled," Coach Patrick continued. "We were playing like we were hoping to make shots, rather than going decisively to the rim. When we did that, good things happened for us."
 
Khy Kabellis and Callum McRae each had 10 points to lead the Highlanders, but for the first time in seven games, UCR found themselves on the losing side of the rebounding battle.
 
UCR returns to action on Saturday, February 8, on the road at CSUN. The game can be heard on gohighlanders.com at 6:45 pm.