EUGENE, Ore. – UC Riverside finished its Pacific Northwest road trip on Wednesday night in a rematch with Oregon from last year, falling 71-65 at Matthew Knight Arena. 

The Highlanders kept it close at the first media break. UCR trailed 8-6 with all six points coming from the field, including four from Kyle Owens on a pair of jumpers. Flynn Cameron, who had made just two total buckets in the last two contests, went back to back beginning with a three as the Highlanders got out to an early 11-10 lead. 

UCR's defensive physicality out of the gate helped the Highlanders hold Oregon scoreless for a good two and a half minutes while starting 7 for 14 from the field on the other end. The Ducks climbed back into the contest with their first lead at 19-17, but Zyon Pullin connected on his second field goal of the night for the tie before pulling down a defensive rebound on the ensuing Oregon possession.

Pullin and Owens combined for 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the first half, finishing their nights with 21 and 11 points, respectively, as Owens tied a season high set this past weekend at Idaho. Pullin, meanwhile, closed in further on 1,000 career points and now stands at 976 with UCR's next three contests being played at the SRC Arena.

UCR got off to a slow start in the second half until a Vladimer Salaridze three just before the under-16 timeout. Salaridze scored seven of his nine points after halftime, but was the lone bright spot for a while until shots started to fall for the Highlanders with eight minutes remaining.

UC Riverside made Wednesday's rematch interesting late with a 7-0 run to get the game to single-digits after cutting the deficit to 10, but it was too little too late against the Highlanders' second Pac-12 opponent of the season..

UCR will take another comfortable break of six days before hosting San Diego on Tuesday, December 20 at 7:00 p.m. at the SRC Arena. Tickets for that game and all home games are available at highlanderstickets.universitytickets.com.