UCR staves off Cal State Fullerton
The UC Riverside basketball team seems to be gelling at the right time again this season.
Riverside won its third straight game on Thursday night, jumping out to an early lead against Cal State Fullerton and pulling away down the stretch for an 8173 victory in the Big West Conference game at Titan Gym.
“We were playing our best basketball last year down the stretch,” UCR coach Mike Magpayo said. “Even two years ago, we were playing our best so, hopefully, that holds true as well.”
Barrington Hargress was the best player on the floor on Thursday, finishing with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Riverside (11-15 overall, 6-8 Big West), which won its first road game of the season after 12 straight losses.
“He’s a stud and he’s starting to really learn the game,” Magpayo said of Hargress, who redshirted as a freshman last season. “When they’re switching everything, he knows how to attack the base now and getting a little more under control.”
Nate Pickens contributed 19 points and Kaleb Smith finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for UCR.
Tory San Antonio scored 14 points to lead five Fullerton players in double figures.
DJ Brewton scored 13 points off the bench and Max Jones and Jalen Cooper added 12 points apiece for Fullerton (11-14, 4-9), which has lost four in a row for the second time in conference play.
San Antonio scored on a drive to tie the score 71-71 with 2:18 left, but Riverside followed with an 8-0 run and the Titans didn’t score again until 14 seconds remained.
“If you look at the free throws
FULLERTON »
UC Riverside forward Kaleb Smith scores a basket over Cal State Fullerton guard Tory San Antonio on Thursday night.
and you look at the turnovers down the stretch and you look at things of us not executing down the stretch, I think there’s probably some realization that that’s where the game was in the balance,” Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said.
Riverside was coming off an 88-78 upset victory against visiting UC Irvine on Saturday. Riverside shot 13-for-27 from 3-point distance in the win against UCI and 12-for-25 in the win against Fullerton.
“They’re capable of it and they were comfortable,” Taylor said of Riverside’s 3-point shooting. “When they are comfortable, that’s what they do, they shoot the ball. They shot it exceptionally well tonight.”
The Titans never led in the first half, but made up most of a 15-point deficit before giving up the final seven points to trail 4033 at the break.
UCR surged to a 13-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Smith
THE SCORE
UC RIVERSIDE 81,
CAL STATE FULLERTON 73
Up next: UC Riverside at UC Davis, Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN+; CS Fullerton at UC San Diego, Saturday, 4 p.m.
SUMMARY
UC RIVERSIDE (11-15)
Owens 1-10 1-2 3, Smith 4-7 0-2 10, Hargress 7-10 6-7 21, Moses 3-6 0-0 9, Pickens 6-9 4-4 19, Griscti 2-4 3-3 8, Tattersall 2-5 2-2 7, Turner 1-4 0-0 3, Salaridze 0-1 1-2 1, Martinez 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 17-22 81.
CAL ST.-FULLERTON (11-14)
Square 0-3 2-2 2, De Luna 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 3-8 5-6 12, Robinson 2-2 0-0 5, San Antonio 5-11
2-2 14, Brewton 5-13 3-3 13, Carper 3-5 4-4 12, Cooper 5-8 0-5 12, Oday 0-4 1-2 1, Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Kabamba 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 17-24 73.
UC Riverside 40-33;
UC Riverside 12-25 (Moses 3-5, Pickens 3-5, Smith 2-2, Griscti 1-2, Hargress 1-2, Tattersall 1-3, Turner 1-4, Owens 0-2), Cal St.-Fullerton 8-18 (Carper 2-3, Cooper 2-3, San Antonio 2-5, Robinson 1-1, Jones 1-3, Brewton 0-1, Oday 0-2); UC Riverside 34 (Smith 9), Cal St.-Fullerton 32 (Carper 10); UC Riverside 13 (Hargress 6), Cal St.-Fullerton 9 (San Antonio, Brewton 3); UC Riverside 17, Cal St.-Fullerton 19; 633 (4,000).
Halftime:
Rebounds:
3-Point Goals:
Assists:
Total Fouls:
A:
Grayson Carper sank 3-pointers in transition on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to 1810, but Riverside also stayed hot from 3-point distance, sinking six of its first seven to build a 27-12 with 8:21 left in the half.
Brewton, who came in as the second-leading scorer for Fullerton (14.3), didn’t start for the Titans after missing the 73-71 loss to Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday with a sore right wrist.
He scored inside to spark a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to 33-31 with 1:41 left in the half.
Vince Lee collected on an offensive rebound and scored with 55 seconds remaining, but Pickens beat a half-court press with a dunk and Benjamin Griscti was fouled on a 3-pointer with 0.6 on the clock before making all three free throws to give UCR the seven-point lead at the break.
Riverside finished 6-for-10 from 3-point distance in the opening half and Fullerton was 5-for-8.