Jan. 27, 2011

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team got back in the win column in a big way, snapping a five game losing streak with a 82-52 win over UC Riverside Thursday, at The Pavilion.

UC Davis (7-12, 2-5) seemed to solve a lot of their offensive problems, shooting 51 percent (26-51) for the game. UC Riverside (7-11, 2-4) dropped their third consecutive conference game, after shooting 32 percent (19-60) from the floor and committing 19 turnovers. The Aggies led by as many as 35 points in the second half and led by no less than 29 points in the final 8 minutes of play.

UC Davis took advantage of the Highlander miscues, scoring 22 points off of turnovers and 10 fast break points. The Aggies also shot 23-29 from the line for a 79 percent clip, in front of 2,127 fans at The Pavilion.

Joe Harden poured in a game high 22 points for the Aggies, shooting 7 of 9 from the floor and 8 of 8 from the line, for his fourth 20-point game of the season. Mark Payne got back into form in his second game back from injury, posting 16 points on 4 of 7 shooting. Ryan Sypkens and Eddie Miller also reached double figures with 16 and 10 points, respectively.

UC Riverside was led by Javon Borum, who had 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting. Eight other Highlander players were in the scoring column, but no other players registered double figures.

The Aggies played well in their only home televised game of the season, with Thursday's contest airing on Comcast Sports Net California. UC Davis has one televised game remaining on the schedule, at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 5, with the game set to air on Prime TIcket.

"We simplified things for this game," said head coach Gary Stewart. "We tried to get our guys to play with a great deal of emotion and passion and put the fun back in it. We changed what we were doing offensively. You don't normally do that at this point in the year, but we were so stagnant on offense. So we simplified our defense and tried to get the ball going up and down faster."

The Aggies jumped out to a 9-4 advantage to start the game, with Harden scoring six points in that time. UC Davis took their first double digit lead after four straight point from Payne, making the score 21-10 with 9:46 to go in the first half.

UC Davis continued to build their lead with a 29-12 score, after a 12-2 run was capped off by a Payne three at the 7:37 mark. Despite a 10-6 run for UC Riverside, the Aggies finished the half on a 9-2 run, to take their biggest lead of the first half at the break with a 44-24 score.

Harden led all scorers at the intermission with 14 points, while Payne and Howley each added 10. UC Davis also shot better than 56 percent in the opening frame, while the Highlanders shot just 33 percent.

There was no let down to start the second half for the Aggies, as UC Davis rattled off a 12-4 run, capped off by a Harden breakaway dunk that made the score 56-28 with 14:13 on the clock. The Aggies continued to pour it on, doubling up the Highlanders with a 70-35 score, thanks to another 11-0 run.

UC Davis led by no less than 29 points for the remainder of the game. Despite a few late Highlander baskets, the Aggies cruised to a final 82-52 win.

"I thought we did a great job of contesting shots and communicating tonight," said Stewart. "We had better balance. We inserted Mark and Todd into the starting lineup and I thought our kids who came off the bench played with great energy. The quality of our shots was much better tonight."

UC Davis will be back in action this weekend, staying at home to face UC Irvine on Saturday at 7 p.m. in The Pavilion.