LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC Riverside capped its brief two-game road trip in La Jolla on Saturday with the return game against UC San Diego, falling 85-62 at RIMAC Arena.

The first six minutes of Saturday's matinee turned into a track meet as UCR and UC San Diego played through whistles up until the first media timeout at 14:32 of the first half. The Highlanders shot 71.4 percent from the floor in those first six minutes, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. 

Angus McWilliam returned from injury to see his first action of the season, logging three points in nine minutes. 

Both offenses' scorching starts eventually waned, but Zyon Pullin drained a three at the 10:31 mark on the break to extend UCR's run to 7-0 with a 20-15 lead. UC Riverside forced the Tritons' fourth turnover of the afternoon on the ensuing trip down the floor.

The Tritons went on an 8-0 to pull ahead 23-20 before Dominick Pickett snapped a five-minute scoring drought for UCR with a baseline jumper. Pickett led UCR with 18 points on the day on 8-of-11 shooting, adding five rebounds and an assist.

After UC San Diego countered with a three, Pickett followed it up with a pullup three of his own at the top of the arc just before the under-4 media break. Both teams traded buckets in the waning minutes of the half, as Flynn Cameron buried a three before Pullin and Pickett traded jumpers to make it 4 of 4 from the floor going into halftime. 

UCR shot 50 percent from both the floor and three-point land for the sixth 30-point first half of Big West play. 

The Highlanders came out of the locker room sluggish on the defensive end, but Wil Tattersall finished up his miss with a second-chance bucket to stop the bleeding with just over 12 minutes remaining. 

Cameron reached 10 points for the 14th time this season, going off the window at the 11:06 mark of the second half. 

UC Riverside made use of a deeper bench in Saturday's contest, with six Highlanders coming off the bench, including McWilliam and Niyi Olabode. 

UCR returns home for its second four-game home stand of Big West play, hosting CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. when UCR Athletics celebrates Black History Month with a t-shirt giveaway presented by Inland Empire Health Plan. Thursday's contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ and fans can purchase tickets at highlanderstickets.universitytickets.com.