Gauchos Nipped By UC Riverside, 63-60
Feb. 28, 2004
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - Rickey Porter stole an inbounds pass in the final seconds, allowing UC Riverside to hold on and beat UC UC Santa Barbara 63-60 Saturday night.
The Highlanders (9-15, 6-10 Big West Conference), who had lost three straight games after leading in the second half, never trailed after the 7:57 mark of the first half, even as the Gauchos cut the deficit to one point twice in the last 70 seconds.
With ten seconds remaining, Cecil Brown's 3-pointer cut Riverside's lead to 61-60, and after a quick foul Kevin Butler hit one free throw to extend the lead to two.
A long inbounds pass from Josh Davis was then intercepted by a diving Porter who connected on one of two free-throws with three seconds remaining.
Branduinn Fullove's desperation 3-pointer as time expired went hard off the rim to give Riverside the win.
UC Santa Barbara (14-11, 8-8) dropped to fourth place in conference play and has lost five of their last six. They sit one game ahead of Northridge for the final first-round bye in the conference tournament.
Vili Morton had a game-high 19 points and Carter had 15 for UC Riverside.