Jan. 5, 2012

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Sophomore guard Tyler Les made four three-pointers and scored 12 points - one of four Aggies in double figures on Thursday night - but UC Riverside picked up 24 points from Phil Martin to post a close 60-58 Big West Conference win at The Pavilion.

UC Davis, which has lost both its conference games by a combined three points - dipped to 1-13 overall while the Highlanders evened their conference mark at 1-1 while improving to 7-8 overall.

Guards Ryan Howley and Tyrell Corbin also finished with 12 points for the Aggies while sophomore Josh Ritchart added 10. Forward BJ Sheary went 5 for 5 from the field and added 10 points for UC Riverside which scored the game's final six points.

Martin's layup with 1 minute, 38 seconds left broke the game's fifth tie. The team's exchanged blocked shots and UC Davis had a turnover before UC Davis got the ball back on a missed three-pointer by Kareem Nitoto with 10 seconds remaining.

The Aggies had an opportunity to at least tie the game in the final seconds but Eddie Miller's made layup with three seconds left was nullified by an offensive foul. UC Davis was unable to get a shot off after a Nitoto's missed free throw a second later.

The loss spoiled another big comeback for UC Davis which trailed Cal State Fullerton by 16 points in its conference opener last week before coming back to tie the game late. It went down by 10 early in the second half on Thursday before battling back for a four-point lead in the final minutes.

"We continue to battle, we continue to get better which is what I've asked them to do," said first-year Aggie coach Jim Les. "We're making those strides. Now we've got to learn and figure out a way to finish games. We've had two league games now where it's gone down to the wire and we've been right there. We just haven't made enough plays."

UC Davis leads the Big West in made three-pointers, entering the game averaging 8.2, and canned nine against the Highlanders. Les paced the the Aggies with four on Thursday night, marking the fifth time this year he's had at least that many. He's made 23 over his last six games.

UC Riverside took early control of the game, scoring the first nine points before Miller's two free throws just over three minutes in provided the Aggies' first points.

Elliott Berry's jumper three minutes later gave the Highlanders their biggest lead of the first half at 15-5 before a 14-3 surge from UC Davis - keyed by three-pointers from Howley, Adam Malik and Les and capped by Corbin's layup - put the Aggies in front 19-18.

The teams were tied twice the remainder of the half before UC Riverside was able to forge a 27-25 lead at intermission. Both teams were held below 40-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes but both did a good job protecting the ball, combining for just 11 turnovers.

UC Davis opened the second half with five straight points, picking up a layup from Corbin and a three-pointer from Ritchart for a 30-27 lead. Martin, though, helped UC Riverside during a 13-3 run by scoring the last seven points as the Highlanders went up 40-30 with 14:44 to go.

The Aggies later trailed 48-40 but Ritchart's trey kick-started a 10-2 uprising that tied the game 50-50 with under eight minutes to play. UC Davis didn't trail until Martin's layup with 1:38 on the clock put the Highlanders in the lead for good.

Despite the loss, Jim Les is seeing progress from the Aggies.

"We're executing better on both ends of the floor, I think our pressure's been better, we're doing a better job rebounding the basketball (and) finishing our defense," he said. "Offensively, I think our execution has been solid and improving. We've just got stay on that path."

The Aggies had just 14 turnovers in the game. Howley had a game-high eight rebounds. Martin made all seven of his free throws to help lead the Highlanders.

UC Davis will try to end its 10-game losing streak on Saturday when it hosts UC Irvine at 7 p.m. at The Pavilion. The Anteaters beat Pacific 73-69 on Thursday night.