NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The UC Riverside men's basketball team (12-7, 7-4 Big West) kicked off the final weekend of Big West play with a thrilling neck-and-neck affair in Northridge, as Flynn Cameron hit two clutch free throws in the final minute to ice CSUN, 72-68, Friday evening at The Matadome. 
 
With the win, UC Riverside secures its best conference record since reclassifying to Division I in 2001-02. UCR and CSUN will square off one final time on Saturday before both teams head to Las Vegas for the Big West Championship. 
 
"There is a lot at stake this weekend," Highlanders head coach Mike Magpayo said, "I'm just so proud of the guys for battling and pulling that one out with seeding on the line, on the road, and against a team we haven't beaten since we arrived here two and a half years ago."
 
Both sides traded jabs through the duration of the first 20 minutes, but it was UCR pulling ahead late in the half with a streak of three of four field goals from Cameron and a free throw and ensuing layup from Zyon Pullin at the 8:07 mark. Cameron finished the half with a team-high nine points and helped the Highlanders to a cool 6-of-7 shooting spree in the midst of an 8-1 run.
 
"We trust in his shooting scoring, but his ability to defend the other team's best perimeter player always helps us," Magpayo said of Cameron, who accounted for a season-high four of UCR's 12 triples on the night while ending with another season high of 14 points. "He had 14 points, but most importantly, we were +16 when he was in the game. It probably speaks to what he was doing defensively for us."
 
UCR didn't skip a beat out of halftime, converting on three of four field goals to open the second half. CSUN managed to cool off the Highlanders for a brief stretch, but not before Jock Perry reached double-digit scoring for the third consecutive game and 13^th overall with a layup at the 15:53 mark to put UCR up 45-43 ahead of the media timeout. Perry ended the night shooting 54 percent with eight rebounds.
 
The Matadors strung together a quick 7-0 run midway through second half, but Daniel Mading put a stop to it with his first points of the night off Dominick Pickett's third assist of the evening. 
 
UCR enjoyed another key run in the second half that coincided with holding CSUN scoreless over a three-minute stretch, as Pullin played ringleader by hitting four of five field goals during the 8-0 spurt. The sophomore's late push was a major part of his team-high 17-point outburst on 6-of-12 shooting while adding seven assists.
 
"Tonight took a total team effort from the people on the floor to the people on the bench," said Pullin, who has now reached double digit scoring in six of his last seven games. "The team stayed together all 40 minutes. The mindset going into tomorrow is to set the tone from the opening tip." 
 
UC Riverside and CSUN are back at it on Saturday evening for the regular season finale. Tipoff from The Matadome is slated for 4:00 p.m. with the broadcast on BigWest.TV and live stats available on gomatadors.com