RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC San Diego senior forward Hugh Baxter scored a game-high 17 points but host UC Riverside earned a 71-59 victory over the visiting Tritons (3-5) inside SRC arena on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Highlanders (8-4) came out strong, hitting five of their first six shots to build a quick 17-3 lead over UC San Diego just 4:04 into the contest. The Tritons settled in and used a 9-4 run of their own to cut the deficit to single digits, 21-12, halfway through the first half.
 
Down 14, the Tritons used an 8-0 run over 3:09 to cut the deficit to six, 29-23, with 5:17 left in the half. Baxter buried a pair of three-pointers in the stretch – giving him a career-high four in just 15 minutes of action.
 
UC Riverside continued to knock down three-pointers, and the Highlanders led 45-32 at the half. UCR was 8-of-16 from beyond the arc and shot 53% overall in the first half.
 
UC San Diego was led by 12 from Baxter and a personal best six off the bench from sophomore forward Matt Gray.
 
The second half started with both struggling to connect on shots. The first points of the period for either side came on a pair of free throws from Tritons junior Toni Rocak more than three minutes into the half. The second half was played fairly evenly, with the Tritons holding a slim 27-26 scoring advantage after the break.

Rocak wide open for three...?? pic.twitter.com/0FO7nRmXMG

— UC San Diego Men's Hoops (@UCSDmbb) February 1, 2021

 
UC San Diego closed the game on a 10-0 run over the final 4:15.
 
Baxter finished with 17, knocking down 5-of-11 from long range. Rocak scored 15 points off the bench for UC San Diego and matched his career high with seven boards. Gray added nine on 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.
 
QUOTABLE
"That was kind of a rough start for us; they played well right from the beginning," said UC San Diego head coach Eric Olen. "We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole …but to our guys' credit, they kept fighting and dug their way back out of it."


  
TRITON TIDBITS

• Sunday's game was a non-conference affair. The Tritons and Highlanders will meet in a pair of regularly scheduled Big West games Feb. 19-20 at RIMAC Arena.
• Senior Gabe Hadley matched a career high with four assists.
• UC San Diego is now 0-4 when trailing at halftime.

 
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to RIMAC Arena on Feb. 5 for the first of two against Hawai'i. Tip-off both Friday and Saturday will be at 5 p.m., and both games will be broadcast on ESPN3.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDTritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.