Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team grabbed sole possession of fifth place in the Big West Conference Saturday evening by winning a 48-44 defensive slugfest against Cal Poly.

Entering the weekend, the Highlanders (7-6) were tied with the Mustangs and Hawai'i for sixth place, but the Rainbow Warriors (6-7) seven-point loss to UC Davis coupled with UCR's win over Cal Poly (6-7), vaulted the Highlanders to within a half game of UC Santa Barbara (7-5) and Long Beach State (7-5).

The win was the third straight for UC Riverside, which is the first three-game winning streak for the team since the 2011-12 season.

Jaylen Bland helped the Highlanders to a 30-22 halftime lead by draining four of six three-pointers in the period. Nick Gruninger added six points making three-of-five shots from the floor and Austin Quick hit two of four shots off the bench.

The Mustangs' trademark defense came alive to start the second half as Cal Poly went on a 19-4 run to turn UCR's eight-point halftime into a seven-point deficit with 11:04 to go. The Mustangs would score three more points the rest of the way and none over a span of more than 10 minutes.

The Highlanders had to scratch and claw for every one of their points over those final 11 minutes as well.

Steven Thornton ended Cal Poly's 19-4 run with 7:43 remaining to make it a 41-37 game. UC Riverside's next score would come more than three minutes later on a Taylor Johns lay up. Another Johns lay up with 3:15 on the clock tied the score at 41, and a Thornton free throw with 1:32 to go put the Highlanders back on top for good.

Bland led UCR with 14 points while Gruninger added 10. Ridge Shipley paced Cal Poly with 15 and Bennett chipped in with 12.

UC Riverside plays just one game next week tipping off at 7 pm PT on Saturday, February 28 at CSUN.