IRVINE, Calif. – UC Riverside closed the gap late but fell 73-66 to UC Irvine in both teams' Big West opener on Thursday at the Bren Events Center.  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Isaiah Moses dropped in consecutive buckets for UCR's first lead of the night at 12-11. The Highlanders set the tone early in bench points, using just a four-man bench through the majority of the first half.  
• UCR went on a 7-0 run to draw level with the Anteaters at the first half's under-four media timeout, staying close behind UCI as halftime approached.
• Moses found an offensive spark out of the break, connecting on five of his first six field goals of the second half en route to a 14-point performance in his conference debut. The junior college transfer has now scored in double figures in eight of his last nine games. 
• UC Riverside kept chipping away with a pair of free throws from Wil Tattersall, followed by back-to-back threes from Ben Griscti to make it a one possession game. Griscti caught fire once more on Thursday with five makes from downtown.  

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS 

• Kaleb Smith recorded his second straight double-digit scoring performance with 10 points off the bench on 4-of-9 shooting. UCR held the edge against UCI with a 22-7 advantage in bench points. 
• Griscti is the third Highlander this year to make five threes in a game after Isaiah Moses did so against Montana State and Kyle Owens sank five at UCLA. Griscti poured in a team-high 18 points in Thursday's conference opener and has now recorded back-to-back season highs in scoring. 
• UC Riverside has scored at least 20 points off the bench now in three of its last five games. 

UP NEXT 

• UC Riverside brings its Big West schedule home to the SRC Arena for the first time on Saturday evening, hosting UC Santa Barbara at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN+.