RIVERSIDE, Calif. - UC Riverside put on an offensive clinic on Saturday night at the SRC Arena, scoring a 78-58 win over Cal Poly.
All five starters scored in double figures in a wire-to-wire win that head coach Mike Magpayo called the Highlanders' "most complete game of the season."
"This is exactly what we've been building towards offensively, a collective effort where the ball pops and that makes us harder to guard," Magpayo said. "Some adjustments by the guys to get the ball to Callum down low and play off that has been very good to our offense in the last few wins and makes us harder to guard."
Callum McRae was hot on both ends of the floor from the opening tip, starting 2 of 2 from the floor with three defensive rebounds through the game's first media break. Wil Tattersall, already in a shooting groove entering Saturday's contest, also got off on the right foot with a 2-for-2 start from the field with an early triple.
UC Riverside ultimately started the first 10 minutes of the game shooting 58 percent from the floor and ended the evening with a 59.3 percent clip, the sixth time this year the Highlanders have shot 50 percent from the field and second time in the last three games.
Dominick Pickett's shooting rhythm continued against the Mustangs, as the grad student started 4 of 5 from the floor and 2 of 2 from deep. He and McRae were already in double figures with four minutes remaining in the first half, as UCR jumped out to an eight-point advantage.
McRae dished out consecutive assists to Flynn Cameron and Zyon Pullin as the Highlanders built a 7-0 run, before Pullin's layup gave UCR a 15-point advantage late in the half. UC Riverside closed out the first 20 minutes going 7 of 8 from the field to take a 40-28 lead into the locker room.
The New Zealand native finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and has now dished out 16 assists in his last three games.
Cameron carried a run of 3 of 4 makes from the field into the second half before UCR went on a 7-0 run with Pullin accounting for five of the points. The DePaul transfer ended his night 4 of 5 from the floor.
The Highlanders ultimately went an efficient 6 of 7 from the field to close out the win, while Pullin was equally sharp down the stretch with 8 of his final 9 shots going down.
UCR will host CSUN on Thursday, February 24 in the Salute to Soldiers game, with a free t-shirt giveaway presented by Magnolia Heating and Cooling. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, and tickets are available for purchase at highlanderstickets.universitytickets.com. Current UC Riverside students are free with a valid UCR ID.
