Box Score Los Angeles, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team built a 13-point first half lead over LMU Wednesday evening, but couldn't overcome 21 turnovers and 28 personal fouls as the Lions came back to pick up the 66-62 victory.

Taylor Johns tried to put the Highlanders on his back down the stretch scoring 14 of his game-high 23 points over the final 4:31 of the game, but it wasn't enough.

LMU got on the board first, but UCR caused the Lions to commit five turnovers over the next four plus minutes, taking an 11-2 lead before LMU was forced to call timeout with 15:44 to go in the first. The stoppage in play didn't help as UC Riverside forced turnover number six on the Lions next possession.

Even Payne stopped the run with a jumper in the lane with 5:27 gone off the clock, and just over a minute later, his layup cut the UCR advantage to five with 13:27 to go.

The Highlanders got into a bit of foul trouble shortly thereafter as Steven Jones and Steven Thornton each picked up two fouls and had to head to the bench

The UC Riverside lead vacillated between three and seven points until Thornton drained a fastbreak three pointer with 6:58 remaining to make it 22-12 Highlanders.

Charles Standifer hit from long distance on UCR's next trip down the court to give the Highlanders their largest lead of the half, 25-12. The lead could have been larger, but UC Riverside was suffering from the same turnover bug that plagued the Lions. LMU committed 13 miscues over the first 20 minutes of play while the Highlanders were credited with 10.

It was still a 12-point UCR advantage with 5:14 to go when the Lions began to close the gap scoring 13 of the final 15 points of the half. Matt Hayes scored six during the run, cutting the Highlanders lead to 31-30 at the break.

Payne led all scorers at the intermission with 13, while Grunigner paced UC Riverside with 11. After starting the half by making seven of their first 14 shots, the Highlanders missed 11 of 14 to close out the period, including their final seven shots form the field.

it was a three-point UCR lead, 36-33, with 3:01 gone in the second when Gruninger was called for a blocking foul and tumbled to the floor. Before he could get up, the officials pointed at Gruninger and blew the whistle again, assessing him with a technical foul. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, that was his second technical of the game, as he was called for one in the first half as well. Two technicals brings with it an automatic ejection, leaving the Highlanders without their starting point guard and their leading scorer on the night for the final 17 minutes of play.

Payne sank the subsequent freebies to cut the lead to one, and back-to-back dunks by Ayodiji Egbeyemi put the Lions up three, 39-36. Payne then made a pair of free throws following Thornton's fourth foul of the day before a Johns free throw ended the 8-0 run.

After Marin Mornar made a pair from the charity stripe, Jones drilled a three ball to reduce the LMU lead to three, 43-40. That was the last made field goal for the Highlanders until Bland's jumper with 9:40 to go as the Lions scored seven straight to lead by 10.

Bland's score made it an eight-point game, and a minute-and-a-half later, a Bland three cut the lead to five, 52-47. With 6:26 to go, Thornton was called for his fifth personal, and had to exit the game. Egbeyemi made the two free throws, and a Hayes jumper on LMU's next trip down the court increased the lead to nine.

Following a UCR turnover, Mornar made one of two free throws to tie the Lions largest lead of the day at 10, 57-47. That's when Johns went to work, scoring eight points over a stretch of 1:59, reducing the Lions lead to five, 61-56.

UCR forced LMU into a shot clock violation the next trip down the floor, but with the clock ticking down to 1:40, Bland was called for traveling as he dragged his feet coming to a jump stop in the lane. The Highlanders got another stop and Johns scored his 10th point of the run slicing the Lions advantage to three, 61-58.

LMU called time out with 60 seconds remaining, but all they got out of their possession was an off-balance Payne jumper.

The Highlanders moved the ball down the court quickly and got the ball to Johns who drove towards the rim. The ball appeared to be heading down towards the bucket when Payne blocked the shot, but there was no goaltending call, and UC Riverside had to foul.

After Payne hit a pair of free throws, Johns drove the lane again, and this time got the goaltending call  reducing the lead to three, 63-60.

Quick fouled Egbeyeni on the subsequent inbounds pass with 15.9 seconds remaining, and he made one of two make it a two possession game.

Johns drew a foul as the Highlanders charged down the floor and made both free throws to pull to within two, 64-62, but Payne hit two free throws of his own to end the scoring.

Bland (15) an Grunniger (11) joined Johns in double figures, while Payne finished with a game-high 25 points for LMU going 15 for 16 from the charity stripe.

UC Riverside returns home following a quick break for Thanksgiving to host Abilene Christian Saturday, November 29. Tip is slated for 1 pm PT.