Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Brynton Lemar's 10-foot teardrop floater, nailed with 0.5 seconds on the clock, capped a wild second half for UC Davis in Saturday night's Big West Conference game in Riverside, as that shot lifted the Aggies to a 50-49 victory in front of a stunned crowd at SRC Arena, and basketball fans across the nation who watched ESPN3's broadcast.

UC Davis will return home with a 10-12 overall and 5-4 Big West record while UC Riverside drops to 13-13 and 4-6.

Thanks to Lemar's late-game heroics, a dominating second-half performance by Josh Fox and a swarming defense, the Aggies have now won six of the last eight overall head-to-head matchups, four of the last five played in Riverside and swept the Highlanders for the second straight season.

Including its heroic effort on Saturday, UC Davis has now won five of its last seven games.

Led by Fox's team-high 16 points, all scored in the second half, UC Davis turned an eight-point deficit into an eight-point lead thanks to a 20-4 scoring run that spanned nearly nine full minutes.

UC Riverside responded with a 9-0 scoring run of its own, capped by two free throws from Malik Johnson that gave his team a one-point lead with eight seconds remaining.

After Darius Graham received the inbounds pass and raced down the court, he stopped on a dime in front of the Aggies' bench when he saw two UCR defenders approaching him along the near sideline. Graham then handed the ball to Lemar, who immediately curled around his teammate and headed towards the paint as the final seconds continued to wind down.

With two seconds on the clock, Lemar lifted the ball over oncoming Highlander defenders and watched the ball float through the hoop, much to the dismay of a once-raucous Riverside crowd.

With the only noise in the building made by the Aggies' bench, and anyone sporting UC Davis colors, UCR had no choice but to heave a shot from 70-plus feet at the buzzer since it was out of timeouts.

Throughout the entire game, not just through their second half run, the Aggies' defense gave the Highlanders fits, and forced them to shoot .277 overall (13 of 47) and .211 from three (4 of 19) throughout the night.

Fox and Lemar led the Aggies with 16 and 13 points respectively, and Neal Monson led all players with 12 rebounds -- the eighth time this season he finished with a double-digit total.

Combined with Thursday's effort, Monson, the Big West leading rebounder, collected 25 boards throughout this week's road trip. Entering SRC Arena, the junior center held league-high rebound, offensive and defensive rebound averages -- a hat trick of figures that will help him secure the top spot among all league leaders for another week.

Taylor Johns led all Highlanders with 16 points while Jaylen Bland chipped in another nine, and finished with a team-high nine rebounds.

UC Davis will look to extend its 12-game home win streak, against Big West opponents, when UC Santa Barbara visits the Pavilion Thursday night. That game will tip at 7 p.m.


UC DAVIS 50, UC RIVERSIDE 49

UC DAVIS (10-12, 5-4 BWC)
Fox, Josh 7-11 2-2 16; Lemar, Brynton 5-14 0-0 13; Schneider, Siler 1-9 4-6 6; Monson, Neal 3-9 0-4 6; Graham, Darius 2-8 2-3 6; White, Lawrence 1-3 0-0 3; Goode, Garrison 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-55 8-15 50.

UC RIVERSIDE (13-13, 4-6 BWC)
Johns, Taylor 4-8 8-10 16; Bland, Jaylen 3-11 0-0 9; Thames, Malik 1-5 6-6 8; Johnson, Secean 2-9 1-2 5; Jones, Steven 2-3 0-0 5; Thomas, Gentrey 0-3 2-2 2; Larsson, Alex 1-6 0-3 2; Dijkstra, Menno 0-1 2-2 2; Boezeman, Robert 0-1 0-0 0; Sylvester, DJ 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-47 19-25 49.

UC Davis........................ 20 30 - 50
UC Riverside.................. 22 27 - 49

3-point goals--UC Davis 4-16 (Lemar, Brynton 3-8; White, Lawrence 1-2; Graham, Darius 0-4; Schneider, Siler 0-2), UC Riverside 4-19 (Bland, Jaylen 3-8; Jones, Steven 1-2; Johnson, Secean 0-2; Thomas, Gentrey 0-2; Boezeman, Robert 0-1; Thames, Malik 0-2; Johns, Taylor 0-2). Fouled out--UC Davis-None, UC Riverside-None. Rebounds--UC Davis 36 (Monson, Neal 12), UC Riverside 40 (Bland, Jaylen 9). Assists--UC Davis 9 (Monson, Neal 2; Graham, Darius 2; Fox, Josh 2), UC Riverside 8 (Thames, Malik 3). Total fouls--UC Davis 20, UC Riverside 16. Technical fouls--UC Davis-None, UC Riverside-None. A-572