Jan. 4, 2008

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis defeated UC Riverside, 58-54, Friday night in Big West Conference action at The Pavilion. The contest marked the first official Big West game for the Aggies. Vince Oliver led UC Davis with 16 points, and Shane Hanson added 12. UC Davis improved to 7-7 overall and 1-0 in the Big West while UC Riverside dropped to 3-10 and 0-2 in the conference. Sean Cunningham led UCR with a game-high 22 points.

The Aggies opened with a quick 6-0 lead built by three-pointers from Kyle Brucculeri and Hanson. UC Davis led 13-8 with 11 minutes left in the half before going on a 10-3 run. Hanson scored the first five points of the stretch, and Oliver finished it with a three-point play at the 5:56 mark to give the Aggies a 23-11.

The lead grew to as much as 14 late in the half, but the Highlanders scored the final five points to make it 31-22 at the break.

UC Riverside opened the second half with six straight points to pull within 31-28. UC Davis responded with a 6-0 run of its own over the next three minutes and led 37-28 at the 14:49 mark.

The Aggies led 41-37 with 11:31 left before putting together another 6-0 run over the next four and a half minutes. The last half of the run came on free throws with 7:03 remaining. Oliver went 2-for-2 after a technical foul was issued to UC Riverside head coach Jim Wooldridge. Jesse Lopez Low, who finished with a season-high seven points, stepped to the line and went 1-for-2 to give UC Davis a 47-37 lead.

UC Riverside chipped away again and pulled within 47-44 with 5:32 to go. After the Highlanders closed within two points, Ryan Silva made a crucial three-pointer off the dribble to put the Aggies up 51-46.

A layup by Sean Cunningham with 1:31 left closed the gap to 53-52, but that's as close as UC Riverside would get. Silva scored on a driving layup on the Aggies' next possession, and Nathan Clark made a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to put UC Davis up 58-54.

Brucculeri and Mark Payne each scored six points, and Silva finished with five. Payne led the Aggies with six rebounds and four assists.

UC Davis, which now has a two-game winning streak, never trailed in the game and improved its record at home to 6-1. The win comes two nights after the team defeated Cal State Bakersfield on the road.

"The preparation from our guys was outstanding," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "Going back to the night before (the game at Cal State Bakersfield), I thought we had as good a practice as we've had all year. We had every reason to make an excuse for not practicing well Thursday, and yet we came back from a quick night and had great concentration, great effort, great energy."

"The coaching staff is a group of unsung heroes in this, too," added Stewart. "Greg Clink, Kevin Nosek and John Lamanna have done such a great job preparing the team to be able to play. It was a team effort tonight from 1 through 16 in the program. Everybody chipped in, and that's a positive for us."

After playing its first 13 games against non-conference opponents, Friday's match-up with UC Riverside was a long-awaited one for the program as its first in the conference.

"It's the first Big West game, and it's a little emotional for me thinking about all the guys who made the sacrifices and weren't able to play in this game but set us up to do what we did tonight," said Stewart. "My hat goes off to them."

UC Davis returns to action Jan. 10 when it plays at Cal State Northridge. It's the first of a two-game road trip that ends at Long Beach State two days later.