SALT LAKE CITY – UC Riverside generated plenty of offense in a more competitive second half but fell 82-53 to Utah on Friday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Jhaylon Martinez hit the game's first basket with a jumper on the assist from Nate Pickens, who earned his first career start. Martinez bookended his first half efforts with a layup in the final minute of the period.  
• UCR continued to hit shots with a 50 percent clip in the early stages of the second half at 4 of 8. 
• Defensively, the Highlanders held Utah without a three for the first six and a half minutes of the second half and ultimately held the hosts to just 33 percent shooting for the opening six minutes.  
• Kaleb Smith grabbed his lone offensive rebound at 12:25 of the second half and dished it to Luke Turner for the three. Turner then grabbed a defensive board at the other end and passed to Isaiah Moses for the stepback triple amid back-to-back-to-back threes for UC Riverside.  
• Pickens hit a fastbreak three before Barrington Hargress broke out of his shooting woes with a stepback jumper. Ben Griscti joined the Highlanders' three-point party just 38 seconds after subbing in and threw down an alley-oop at the 2:30 mark.  

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS 

• Moses came alive in the second half with 10 of his 12 points in his second game as a Highlander. 
• Griscti scored all 10 of his points after halftime in his UCR debut while adding seven rebounds, a block and two steals. 
• Six different Highlanders drained a three on Friday in the Beehive State and Griscti went 2 for 3 from range.  
• UCR outscored Utah 40-34 in the second half and matched the Utes from the field with a 15-for-35 clip.  

UP NEXT 

• UC Riverside is back in action on Sunday at Portland with a 2:00 p.m. tipoff from the Chiles Center on ESPN+.