UC Riverside
UC Irvine
Highlanders Comeback Falls Short As UCI Holds On For 71-66 Win
1/29/2009 3:53:11 PM | Men's Basketball
Riverside, CA – Trailing by 16 to UC Irvine with 15:53 to go in the game, the UC Riverside's Men's Basketball Team's hopes of picking up their record-breaking 12th win of the season seemed dim. Following a 30-second timeout, however, the Highlanders found their stride and went on a 29-11 run to take a two-point lead with 3:59 to play.
Jesse LoBue (Santa Cruz, CA) scored 11 points in the run while Kyle Austin added 8. The UCR lead was short-lived, however. The teams swapped the lead back and forth as Derrick Strings' three-pointer gave UC Irvine a 63-62 advantage while Kyle Austin's (Pasadena, CA) jumper two possessions later put the Highlanders back on top by one. It was the last lead they would enjoy. Michael Hunter drained back-to-back three-pointers and the Anteaters had a five-point lead and the ballgame.
UC Riverside started digging themselves a hole early on as UCI jumped out to a 19-10 lead with just under nine minutes gone in the game. Austin scored seven of the Highlanders' next 10 points as UCR went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes and change to take its first lead of the night.
The Anteaters countered with a 9-0 run of their own, which is the same margin they took into the locker room at halftime. Both teams shot exceptionally well in the first with UC Irvine making 55.6 percent of its shots and the Highlanders connecting on 54.2 percent of theirs. UCI scored 10 of the first 13 points coming out of the break to build their 16-point lead setting the stage for UCR's comeback.
Neither team cooled off much in the second half as the Anteaters made 54.5 percent of their field goal attempts coming out of the break and UC Riverside nailed 48.1 percent of theirs. Austin led the Highlanders with 21 points on the night while LoBue added 13 and Aaron Scott (Oakland, CA) chipped in with 12. UC Irvine's Hunter led the Anteaters with 19 points, 15 of which came off of three-pointers. As a team, UCI connected on 11 of 25 from beyond the arc on the night.
NOTES
The 1,010 fans in attendance were the most at a UC Riverside home game this season.
Austin's 21 points marked the third time this season that he has reached the 20 point plateau.
