RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside welcomed fans back to the SRC Arena on Tuesday evening against UC Davis, but fell 65-60 to the Aggies. 

The Highlanders climbed back into the game after being down 16 in the second half. 

UCR went on a 9-2 run to start their scoring after the Aggies opened Tuesday's contest with a sense of urgency. Zyon Pullin opened the contest with five points on 2 of 3 shooting and seven of the Highlanders' first 14. 

Both teams went cold from the floor late in the first half until a goaltending call allowed UC Davis to go ahead 21-16 with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half. Wil Tattersall snapped a long field goal drought for UCR with a layup with four minutes left in the half. 

Dominick Pickett drained his first three of the night nearly midway through the second half, keeping UCR in the mix of the game. Pickett ended the night with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting and four steals to enter the UCR top 10 in career takeaways. 

Tattersall pulled up from the top of the key for a triple late in the second half, then cleaned up a miss from Pickett and muscled inside for the offensive rebound and putback to get UCR to within eight. The Aussie's extra effort secured him his third 10-point game of the season and second in the last four games. 

Jhaylon Martinez's putback out of a timeout gave UCR an 11-1 run and only a six-point deficit, while the Highlanders held UC Davis to just one field goal in a six-and-a-half minute span. 

Martinez and Tattersall's efforts were emblematic of a strong second half push for the Highlanders, who outworked UC Davis down low in the final 20 minutes with an 18-6 advantage on points in the paint, an 8-3 advantage on second chance points and a 20-13 rebounding edge.

Pickett knocked down a key triple with two minutes left, bringing the Highlanders to within three at 56-53 with 2:22 remaining. 

UC Riverside will close out a four-game home stand on national television Thursday, welcoming first-place Hawaii to the SRC Arena on 8:00 p.m. PT on ESPNU. Live stats will be available at GoHighlanders.com. Students will receive free admission with a valid UCR Student ID and fans can purchase tickets by clicking here or by emailing highlandertickets@ucr.edu.