UCRMBB
Carlos Puma
59
UC Riverside UCR 14-11,4-5 Big We
61
Winner CSUN CSUN 10-15,5-4 Big We
UC Riverside UCR
14-11,4-5 Big We
59
Final
61
CSUN CSUN
10-15,5-4 Big We
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UC Riverside UCR 23 36 59
CSUN CSUN 28 33 61

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Highlanders Late Second Half Surge Falls Just Short in 61-59 loss to CSUN

Presented by Altura Credit Union

Altura Credit Union
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — UC Riverside battled back to erase a 14-point deficit with just under seven minutes to play to tie the CSUN Matadors, 59-59, with 4.9 seconds left in the contest. However, the Highlanders comeback effort fell just short as UCR (14-11, 4-5) fell to CSUN, 61-59 on Saturday night, February 8. 

Khyber Kabellis tied the game, 59-59, on a layup prompting CSUN (10-15, 5-4) to call a timeout with 4.9 seconds to play after a furious comeback by the Highlanders. On the ensuing play, the Matadors Brendan Harrick hurled the inbound pass the length of the court in the direction of Lamine Diane. As Diane and Arinze Chidom made a play for the basketball, Chidom was whistled for his fourth personal foul sending Diane to the foul line for a 1-and-1. Diane proceeded to knock down two free throws to give the Matadors the lead for good.   

Highlanders head coach David Patrick drew up an excellent play to get Kabellis a look at three but the attempt fell short as time expired. 

UCR was able to disrupt the rhythm of the high-scoring CSUN offense in the first half, holding the Matadors to 33 percent from the field while also holding a lead for just over nine minutes. However, the Highlanders shot just 9-of-26 in the first half —matching their output from the second half at Fullerton earlier in the week.

"This game I was like let's try to put the ball in the post every single time and I thought we did it early with Arinze and then we went away from it for whatever reason," said Patrick. "We did it with Callum (McRae) and then we went away from it and when they were switching it discombobulated us a little bit."
CSUN stormed out of the locker room in the second half making eight of its first 12 field goals before eventually opening up it's largest lead of the game —14 points —- with 6:56 to play.

UCR showed a lot of grit and toughness going on an 18-4 run over a seven-minute stretch to tie the game with just under five seconds to play, leaving the Matadors on the verge of dropping a second straight game in which they held a double-digit lead in the second half. After CSUN's hot start in the half, UCR forced them to miss 10 of their next 13 field goals.

"Ninety-five percent of our games this year we've competed at a high level and that doesn't always lead to wins," Patrick said. "They did that tonight. The one good thing (is) we're still a young group in terms of playing together. I thought we executed down the stretch and they followed the gameplan there. Even the last play we had a good look at the rim to get a shot. I think we're growing. It's hard to win on the road. You look at this league and the loss tonight, it's very, very hard. As long as we continue to build on this, all of these (games) are going to be like this and, hopefully, we can come out on the other end of the ledger next time." 

McCrae paced UCR with 17 points and five assists – both game highs. Chidom finished with a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds. UCR held CSUN's high scoring duo of Diane and Terrell Gomez to 29 combined points, well below their average of 47 points per game this season.

The Highlanders return to the SRC Arena Wednesday, February, 12 to take on first place UC Irvine. The action begins at 6:45pm on GoHighlanders.com.