LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC Riverside brought Thursday's contest at LionTree Arena down to the wire, but fell 66-65 at UC San Diego. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• UCR went with the lineup of Kyle Owens, Nate Pickens, Isaiah Moses, Barrington Hargress and Kaleb Smith for the third time in four games, generating the majority of its scoring in La Jolla from the same starting corps that drained a Division I program-record 17 threes in last week's win over CSUN. 
• Hargress scored six of UCR's first eight points, breaking an early 6-6 deadlock with a running layup. Smith's runner just before the under-eight media break cut the deficit to a field goal as UCR and UC San Diego continued to battle. 
• UC Riverside shot a clean 50% from the floor in the first half with 10 points from Hargress and seven from Owens. 
• Smith hit another layup before the following media break as UC Riverside continued to close the gap while holding a 14-11 edge in rebounds. The redshirt freshman threw down a dunk in the opening minute of the second half as UCR finally began to show signs of pulling away. 
• The Highlanders saw their biggest lead of the second half reach seven with a three from Moses three minutes into the second half. 
• UCR hit five of its eight threes in the second half, four of which rolled off of Owens' fingers. 

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

• Owens put up a season-high 19 points in the defeat while going 4 of 8 from the three-point line. 
• Pickens has now scored in double figures in four of his last five games after registering 11 points on Thursday in La Jolla. 
• Smith set a new individual single-game high for UC Riverside this season with a career-high 14 rebounds on Thursday. 

UP NEXT

• UC Riverside returns to the SRC Arena on Saturday, January 27 for a regionally-televised 1:00 p.m. tipoff against Long Beach State.