Pacific Defense Comes Up Big Again In 60-52 Win At UC Riverside

"Our defense tonight was sensational," said Pacific head coach Bob Thomason. "We played really well together, we rebounded and scrapped really hard."

 

After an opening three-pointer by UCR's Kareem Nitoto, junior Travis Fulton hit four free throws in a 9-0 stretch as the Tigers took a six point lead.  The teams played nearly even over the next six minutes with Pacific holding a 13-9 lead. Sophomore Ross Rivera then scored the next seven points as the Tigers took a 20-9 lead with 8:13 to play. A fast-break basket by freshman Spencer Llewellyn gave the Tigers their largest lead at 26-13 with 3:26 to play in the half, but Pacific went scoreless the rest of the half. The Highlanders closed the half on a 9-0 run to make it 26-22 at the break.

The run by UCR extended into the second half, as the Tiger lead was cut to 26-25. Pacific's scoreless stretch extended to six and a half minutes before a free throw by Rivera three minutes into the second half. Another pair of free throws by Rivera gave the Tigers a 30-27 lead, but Austin Quick hit back-to-back three-pointers and Daymond Cowlah scored on a layup to give the Highlanders a 35-30 lead with 13:02 to play. Junior Lorenzo McCloud scored six points in an 8-0 Tiger run to the lead back to Pacific (38-35) with 11:39 to go. The teams went back and forth over the next four minutes with three ties. With the game knotted at 45-45, Rivera capped a 6-0 Pacific run with a pair of free throws to give the Tigers the lead for good.  The Highlanders scored the next four points and the teams exchanged a pair of free throws to make it 53-51 with 1:55 left. After an intentional foul by UCR's Phil Martin, Rivera hit two more free throws and McCloud scored on a layup to give the Tigers a 57-51 lead with :59 seconds left. Martin hit a free throw a few seconds later, but Pacific hit three of four from the line to seal the win.

 

Rivera led the Tigers with 19 points, tying for the second most free throw makes in a game (15) in school history. David Fox hit 16 in a game against USF on Feb. 26, 1966. McCloud added 14 points, while Duran had 11 points. The Tigers hit just two of 15 three-pointers and shot 31.3 percent from the field. Pacific held the Highlanders to 38.6 percent shooting from field and forced 22 turnovers.  The Tigers outscored UCR 26-13 on points off of turnovers. Quick led the Highlanders with 17 points.

 

The Tigers are next in action with a road contest at UC Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m.