Box Score Davis, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team led by as many as 16 points Thursday, and by 13 in the second half, but UC Davis battled back to clinch its first Big West regular season championship with a 61-59, come-from-behind victory.

Fans tuning in to a Big West game for the first time would have had difficulty determining which team was trying to clinch that regular season conference title as the Highlanders (14-15, 7-8) jumped out to a 16-point lead with 6:04 to go in the first. UC Riverside forced the Aggies into nine first half turnovers in building that lead and UC Davis, which leads the entire nation in three-point field goal percentage, didn't connect on its first shot from long range until nearly 15 minutes were gone in the period.

It is difficult to keep the Aggies (23-5, 13-2) down, however, and over those final five-plus minutes of play, they outscored the Highlanders 13-2, to cut UC Riverside's lead to five, 30-25, at the break. Taylor Johns also picked up his second and third fouls late in the first, which would limit his minutes in the second half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Highlanders scored seven of the first nine points, and they extended their lead to 13 with 9:40 remaining, but the Aggies scored nine straight to cut the lead back down to three, 48-45.

It was still a seven-point UCR lead with 6:16 on the clock, and that is when both teams went cold. UC Davis got a pair of free throws from Josh Fox with 6:00 to go, but didn't score again for nearly four minutes. The Highlanders got a lay up from Alex Larsson with 3:48 to go, and didn't score again until 38 seconds were left on the clock.

By then, the Aggies had found their stroke, scoring eight straight points to take their first lead of the game, 55-54, with 68 ticks remaining. A Johns lay up put the Highlanders back on top, but Davis countered with a Corey Hawkins jumper in the lane, and they would never trail again.

For the second straight game, UC Riverside battled foul trouble, as UC Davis went to the line 32 times compared to just 13 for the Highlanders.

Hawkins finished with a game-high 21 points going 9 for 11 from the charity stripe while Fox went 10 for 14 and scored 14 points overall. Johns paced the Highlanders with 15, and Alex Larsson added 11 rebounds.

UC Riverside conclude its regular season this Saturday, March 7 with a 5 pm PT tip against Long Beach State. The Highlanders will celebrate the careers of the team's five seniors in a pregame ceremony beginning at approximately 4:45 pm.