Box Score Riverside—Steven Thornton poured in a career-high 22 points Saturday night as the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team came back from a 13-point first-half deficit to beat visiting Hawai'i, 66-62.

The win evened the Highlanders record in conference play at 2-2 and 9-9 overall. It was the first victory for UC Riverside over the Rainbow Warriors (13-6, 1-2) since the Islanders made the move to the Big West three seasons ago.

Hawai'i's full court press bothered the Highlanders in the early going forcing UCR into 13 first-half turnovers. The Rainbow Warriors used a 10-2 run midway through the first 20 minutes to give them their largest lead of the day, 27-14, with 7:44 to go in the period.

The Highlanders made some adjustments to their press break shortly thereafter, closing the half on an 11-2 run to cut the Hawai'i lead to three, 31-28.

Thornton scored 10 points in the period thanks to a seven-of-eight  performance from the free throw line, while Stefan Jankovic paced the Rainbow Warriors with 11.

Neither team shot well in the first with the Highlanders shooting 38.1 percent and Hawai'i making just 35.5 percent.

Mike Thomas scored the first points of the second half to put the Rainbow Warriors back up by five, but shortly thereafter, Thornton scored six straight points on an old-fashioned three-pointer and a shot from long range to give the Highlanders their first lead since early in the game.

Neither team led by more than four over the final 18:52, as the second half saw seven ties and nine lead changes. The final tie of the game came with 2:14 on the clock at 58-58. It was 36 seconds later when Jaylen Bland drained a three-pointer to give the Highlanders a lead they would never relinquish.

UC Riverside's final five points came from the free throw line as Thornton hit a pair to give him 22 for the night, and Bland hit three to finish with 15. Austin Quick also chipped in with a season-high 11 points making all four of his shots from the field.

The Highlanders made 55.0 percent of their shots in the second to complete the comeback.

UC Riverside hits the road next week traveling to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and Cal Poly on Saturday.