Men's Basketball | 11/29/2014 5:18:00 PM
Box Score RIVERSIDE, Calif. — California-Riverside's interior size advantage and 3-point shooting helped the Highlanders to a big early lead Saturday and they never looked back as they cruised to a 76-56 win over ACU in non-conference men's basketball action at the SRC Arena.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 2-3 on the season, while the Highlanders improve to 3-2. ACU will be back in action Thursday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Sacramento State in the Wildcats' annual Christmas Slam contest at Moody Coliseum.
Riverside jumped out to a 9-0 lead against ACU and never trailed en route to running its all-time record to 2-0 against the Wildcats. Riverside's last three buckets in that game-opening run established the storyline for the day as the Highlanders collected three straight offensive rebounds and scored on putbacks, a recurring theme throughout the contest.
Riverside, in fact, would out-score ACU, 25-5, on second-chance points in the ballgame and also out-rebound the Wildcats, 47-21. The Highlanders picked up 19 offensive rebounds in the game as they continually got second-chance shots and outscored ACU 38-11 in the paint.
The Highlanders also buried 8 of 16 shots from 3-point range after entering the game shooting 37.1 percent from 3-point range. The Highlanders led 41-22 at the break and never saw their lead dip below 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
Six Riverside players scored in double figures in the game, led by 16 points from Steven Jones, while Taylor Johnson (13 points and 14 rebounds) and Alex Larsson (12 points and 11 rebounds) recorded double-doubles.
Junior guard
Parker Wentz – who didn't score in the first half – finished with a team-high 15 points for the Wildcats, while
LaDarrien Williams scored all 13 of his points in the first half before leaving the game with a thigh injury.
