UC Riverside
UC Irvine (First Round)
Highlanders Lose to UCI in First Round of Big West Tournament, 53-52
3/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Larry Cunningham scored 19 points, but the No. 8 seeded UC Riverside Highlanders' shooting went ice cold in the second half and the No. 5 seeded UC Irvine Anteaters came from behind to post a 53-52 victory in the opening round game at the Anaheim Convention Center Wednesday.
UCR concludes the 2006-07 season at 7-24 while UC Irvine improves to 14-17.
Cunningham was the only Highlander to score in double-figures. Freshmen forward Henrik Thomsen scored eight points and freshman guard Charles Jim-George came off of the bench to add eight. Senior guard Dedrick Bates concluded his UCR career with a seven point, seven rebound performance, while fellow senior guard Justin Bell had two points, two assists and seven rebounds. The guards had 14 of UCR's 27 rebounds. UCR shot 33.3% (18-of-54) from the field, but was just 6-of-23 (26.1%) in the second half, including 0-of-7 from the three point line.
In the loss, Cunningham became the 13th Highlander to reach the 1,000 career point margin and finished the game as UCR's No. 12 all-time scorer with 1,012 points.
The Highlanders opened the game with an inspired run of offense and defense and led 16-6 at 12:36 following an 8-0 run. The Highlanders expanded the lead to 18 at 30-12 on a layup followed by a three by Henrik Thomsen with 7:55 remaining. But UCI closed out the half on a 14-4 run pare the lead to just eight, 34-26. The Highlanders had just one field goal in the final five minutes of the half.
The Highlanders were able to hold their lead for the bulk of the second half, but long offensive dry spells allowed the Anteaters to creep back into the game. A four-minute UCR scoreless span and Nic Campbell's field goal followed by a three pointer cut UCR's lead to 41-36 at 10:03. UCR built the margin back to seven at 45-38 with 7:20 left on a jumper by Cunningham, but again the Anteaters answered, this time with a 9-0 run that gave them a 47-45 lead with 4:15 remaining.
The teams traded baskets and were tied 51-51 with 1:33 remaining following a pair of free throws by Bates. Irvine's Mark Kelley put-back a miss by Michael Hunter with a minute left to make it 53-51. Bates was then fouled with 45 seconds left and made one-of-two to make it 53-52.
UCR had a pair of chances to win it. With 27 seconds left, Cunningham's jump shot went long, but UCR got the rebound. However, the Highlanders final chance with five seconds left broke down and Irvine emerged victorious.
Patrick Sanders led UCI with 15 points and nine rebounds and Campbell had 10 points.
