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(December. 22, 2007) –
UC Riverside fell to Cal State Bakersfield (2-10), 71-53 at
the Student Recreation Center Saturday night. Senior Larry
Cunningham and junior Aaron Scott each finished with team-highs
of 12 points for the Highlanders (3-7).
Both teams traded baskets
through the first nine minutes before the Highlanders went
up 17-12 on junior Severin Gates’s layup. UCR would
hold their lead over the next couple minutes until CSUB strung
a couple baskets together for an 8-0 run and took a 30-25
lead with just over one minute remaining in the half. Riverside
did answer the run with Larry Cunningham’s layup followed
by a steal and jumper a by Gates with two seconds remaining
to cut to 30-29 Roadrunners at the break.
The Highlanders trailed
despite shooting a season-high 13 for 26 (50.0%) from the
floor and forcing 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Riverside came out with
some defensive pressure to start the second half and tried
to convert some Bakersfield miscues into points. Instead it
was CSUB that turned up the dial on defense and started to
knock down shots at their offensive end. The Roadrunners steadily
increased their half-time lead by shooting 16-for-32 (50.0%)
from the floor in the second half a held double-digit leads
throughout most of the final 20 minutes.
Bakersfield outscored UCR
41-23 in the second half by way of that outside shooting to
pick up the victory 71-53. CSUB’s Trent Blakley was
on fire from the outside, finishing the night with eight of
the Roadrunner’s 14 three-pointers. Blakley put up 26
points and three other Bakersfield players added double figures
in points in support of Blakley’s game-high total. CSUB
finished the game with an impressive 14-for-27 (51.9%) from
behind the arc, which proved to be the difference. The Highlanders
struggled from long range making 2-of-12 (16.7%) from long
range.
It was just one of those
nights when the shots didn’t fall and the opponent seemed
to make every shot they threw up. Junior Christian Soto added
seven points and seven rebounds and sophomore Sean Cunningham
brought down a game-high nine boards for UCR who shot 26.9%
in the second half to finish the night 20-of-52 (38.5%).
The Highlanders have one
more game until the start of Big West Conference play in January.
UCR will travel to Los Angeles next Saturday to face USC at
5:00 p.m.
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