Riverside loses big to two northern foes
Ayotunde Kajopaiye
Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: Sports
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The UC Riverside Highlanders were undone by a terrific performance from the University of Pacific Tigers this past Saturday evening at the Student Recreation Center in front of a crowd of 1392 and a national television audience.
The Tigers shot 11-25 from beyond the arc and answered any run the Highlanders made during the course of the evening, winning the game 72-57.
The Highlanders led the way will the score read 8-4 at the 14:50 mark of the first period. From that point the Tigers came back to tie the game and never looked back as they would never trail again in the game.
"I think they just played extremely well and we just didn't have an answer in any regard. Their field goal percentage inside the line and outside the line and minimal turnovers they had we just couldn't [defend them]," head coach Jim Wooldridge said. "We felt like we could play a position defense [but] we just didn't have any success doing that. We went into a little zone in the second half and they shot the ball extremely well from three point range so whatever we did they answered it. "
The Tigers took a 37-24 advantage into halftime.
At halftime, the Tigers had only two turnovers and had eight team assists with forward Sam Willard leading all scorers with 11 points.
The Tigers led the Highlanders in nearly all categories, including rebounds, typically the Highlander's hallmark. Pacific had just four turnovers and nearly three times as many points off of turnovers.
"It was a complete game by Pacific," Wooldridge said. "They're clearly the best team we've played in this league."
In the second half, the Highlanders deficit of 13 swelled up to 23 points and the Highlanders faced an uphill battle all along in the second pair of 20 minutes. The Highlanders would cut the deficit to 14 points with 3:55 left in the game but the Tigers would not let up.
The Tigers took junior Kyle Austin out of the offense with a swarming defense and forced the other Highlanders to make shots to beat them.
Austin finished the game 2-10 and scored only eight points which was well below his 17.2 points per game average.
As for the other Highlanders, senior Bryson Hampton had 10 points on a perfect 5-5 from the field. Senior Sean Cunningham led the Highlanders in scoring with 11 points and three other Highlanders finished with five points or more but those scorers did not score more than eight points.
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