RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside welcomed another Big West heavyweight to the SRC Arena on Saturday evening in first-place Cal State Fullerton, handing the Titans their first Big West loss of the year with a 67-54 victory.
UCR is now 4-2 in conference play and 11-6 overall after snapping the Titans' eight-game win streak.
"It was a very good win for the guys to go toe to toe with the best team in the conference so far," head coach Mike Magpayo said. "Dom's play and leadership shone in a big way, and our bench with Quinton especially gave us a big boost."
Both teams opened up neck and neck until UCR went on an 11-0 run in a span of 3:42, going 5 for 8 from the floor with four points from Zyon Pullin. UCR ended the half shooting 46.4 percent from the floor for their third-highest first-half point total of the season while holding the Titans to just 32 percent from the floor.
18 of UCR's 37 first-half points came in the paint.
Dominick Pickett reached a game-high 12 points by halftime, boosting his scoring average to at least 10 for the first time since three games into the 2019-20 season. Pickett finished the evening with a team-high 18 points.
UC Riverside extended its lead to 20 and got off to a 5-1 run midway through the second half after Dragan Elkaz's three at the 13:17 mark of the second half.
In what's become a recent trend for the Highlanders, UCR was once again efficient from the charity stripe with a 20-for-21 clip for its second-highest free throw clip of the season, led by 7 for 7 from Pullin and 6 for 6 from Pickett. UC Riverside has now shot at least 70 percent from the free throw line in its last five games
UCR held Cal State Fullerton to 25.8 percent shooting in the second half with just eight made field goals to the Titans' credit in the final 20 minutes.
Callum McRae reached the 700-point plateau for his impressive UCR career while grabbing eight rebounds, and is now six shy of 500 for his career. Defensively, the seven footer from New Zealand held the conference's leading scorer, E.J. Anosike, to just 10 points.
Nine different Highlanders got on the scoresheet on Saturday, including Quinton Ford, who tied a season high with six points in 18 minutes.
UC Riverside is back in action on Tuesday, February 1 when the Highlanders welcome UC Davis to the SRC Arena for a 7:00 p.m. tip with the Aggies on ESPN+. Live stats will be available on GoHighlanders.com and fans can purchase tickets at GoHighlanders.com.
