The UC Riverside Highlanders held off a second half comeback by the Cal
State Fullerton Titans to hold on for a 68-60 win at the Student Recreation
Center in Riverside Saturday.
UCR junior forward John Galbreath led all scorers with 19 points and chipped
in six rebounds. Galbreath was 5-of-9 from the field, including two three
pointers, and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Sophomore center Vili Morton
had his seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
He also had six blocked shots in the game. Senior forward Lloyd Cook had
14 points and junior forward Mark Miller 13 points to round out the double-digit
scoring for UCR.
For the Titans (3-11, 0-5), Center Pape Sow and guard Kevin Richardson
each had 16 points and guard Brandon Campbell had 12 points. On the evening
the Titans shot 27.0 % (17-of-63) from the field, their lowest total since
they shot 25.5% against UNLV on February 4, 1995.
UCR (6-7, 3-2) shot 48.9% (22-of-45) from the field and made 21-of-28
(75.0%) free throws, tying the best total free throws by the team this
season (21-of-28 vs UCSC on 12/15/01).
After trailing early, UCR came back to build a 35-28 halftime lead, but
the Titans slowly chipped away at the margin, eventually tying the score
at 48-48 on a free throw by Kevin Richardson with 8:13 remaining. But
UCR responded with a 9-4 run over the next five minutes to build the lead
back up to five. The Highlanders hit 11-of-12 free throws in the final
3:14 to put the game away.
The Titans , who led by as many as five in the early going, were leading
19-15 on a free throw by Pape Sow with. But UCR went on a 10-0 run to
build the lead back up to six at 25-19 with 5:36 remaining. The Titans
cut the score to 25-23 on a layup and a pair of free throws by Sow, but
UCR got a dunk by Vili Morton and a layup by Mark Miller to build the
lead back up to seven at the intermission.
The game featured a total of 50 fouls and 64 trips to the foul line. The
Highlanders won the rebound battle, 44-36. UCR was saddled with 22 turnovers,
tying for their third highest total on the season.
The crowd of 2,116 was the largest of the season for UCR and the largest
since January 27, 2001 when they played Southern Utah.
Cal State Fullerton returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 17) as they take
on Idaho at 7:05 p.m. at Titan Gym.
