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(February 20, 2008) –
UC Riverside beat the visiting UC Irvine Anteaters (11-14,
6-6 Big West) 85-76 at the Student Rec Center Wednesday night.
Senior Larry Cunningham moved to within 27 points of becoming
UCR’s all-time leading scorer with his 21 points and
the Highlanders (6-17, 3-9 Big West) remained in the driver
seat for the final spot in the Big West tournament.
UCR had four players finish
in double-figures as junior Christian Soto matched his career-high
he set the previous game with 13 points. Juniors Cleavon Barlow
and Severin Gates each finished with 10 points a piece for
the Highlanders who won the battle down low, using a 34-20
rebound advantage to score 42 points from inside the paint
on the night.
Riverside jumped out to
an early 7-4 lead and then opened it up to 21-6 after producing
a 14-2 run capped by sophomore Sean Cunningham’s free-throw
following his layup during which he was fouled, to complete
a three point play. The lead would stay in double digits for
the rest of the half as Larry Cunningham’s jumper in
the final seconds gave the Highlanders a 16-point lead at
the half.
UCR put together a 15-for-28
(53.6%) first-half shooting effort and the defense limited
the Anteaters to 7-of-20 (35.0%) shooting to take a 37-21
lead at the break. Eight Highlanders recorded baskets in the
first 20 minutes as the Riverside “D” forced 11
UCI turnovers and had outscored the Anteaters with points
in the paint, 22-8.
Both teams traded baskets
for the first 10 minutes of the second half before Irvine
started to knock down some shots and later forced some turnovers
on the defensive end. After junior Aaron Scott's put-back
dunk gave the Highlanders a 13-point lead, 61-48 with just
under nine minutes remaining, a UCI three-point play by Darren
fells on the following possession, cut the UCR lead to 10.
Michael Hunter then brought the Anteaters to within single
digits with three at the 6:51 mark.
UCI put together a 10-0
run during that span, using another three from Hunter to close
the gap to 63-61 with 5:43 to go. After another three by UCI,
this time by Brett Lauer who knocked down seven threes on
the game tp finish with a game-high 25 points, cut the Riverside
lead to just one, 70-69, with 3:11 left on the clock. The
Highlanders hung tough though, continuing to attack the basket
and kept their lead by making their free-throws.
The Anteaters were forced
to pressure and UCR passed their way through the press and
converted on some layups. They would finish the game by knocking
down 11 of their final 13 free-throw attempts to pick up the
victory. The Highlanders shot a season-best 29-of-50 (58.0%)
from the floor and made a season-high 24-of-35 from the charity
stripe. UCI suffered the loss despite putting up 55 points
and shooting 19-29 (65.5%) in the second half.
UCR will next play this
Saturday when they host Hawaii for the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBuster
game in the Student Rec Center set for 5:00 p.m.
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