RIVERSIDE -- The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball bounced back to give UC Riverside a battle before falling, 75-68, in a Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCR.
Fullerton, which was unhappy with its performance in a home loss to Long Beach State on Thursday, held its own in this one - a game that featured 20 lead changes and 13 ties. The Titans (2-8 overall, 0-2 Big West) had a lead with less than seven minutes left and were within two points of UCR (6-4, 2-0) with two minutes left but they missed seven of their last eight shots from the field and the Highlanders held on to close out the win.
The teams exchanged blows throughout the first half, with neither side able to pull away amid 17 lead changes and six ties. The Titans held a 39-37 lead at halftime, and the second half was more of the same with the teams trading the lead a few more times. Fullerton took its last lead at 57-56 on a three-point play by Davis Bynum with 7:58 left.
Trailing by four with 2½ minutes remaining, Donovan Oday grabbed a rebound and took the ball the length of the court to pull the Titans within 66-64.
UCR's Nate Pickens answered with a jumper with 1:58 left, then a pair of Oday misses were sandwiched around a Highlanders turnover. UCR's Kaleb Smith hit a 3-pointer to give his team a 71-64 lead with 54 seconds left.
Fullerton's Kaleb Brown missed a 3-point attempt, but Kendrick De Luna made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to five with 46 seconds left. Riverside's Barrington Hargress split a pair of free throws, then the Titans got within 72-68 on a pair of John Mikey Square free throws with 29 seconds left.
Hargress made two more free throws with 24 seconds left and Isaiah Moses made one of two with 10 seconds left to end the scoring.
Brown scored a team-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while Oday had 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Square added 10 points, five assists and three steals. De Luna had nine points and five rebounds and Zion Richardson added seven points and six rebounds.
Hargress led Riverside with 20 points, while Smith had 18, Moses scored 11 and Joel Armotrading had eight points and a team-best nine rebounds.
Fullerton's offense operated and finished at a much more efficient clip Saturday, shooting 44% from the field and going 21 for 26 at the free-throw line. The Titans were outscored 27-9 from 3-point range, where UCR shot 9 for 25 and Fullerton went 3 for 16.
Fullerton hosts La Sierra, an NAIA program from Riverside, on Tuesday at 6 p.m.