RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Irvine fell to UC Riverside, 86-65, in Big West action Friday afternoon at the SRC Arena.

UCI drops to 10-7 on the season and 6-3 in conference action. UCR improves to 5-2 in conference and 9-4 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Freshman DJ Davis led the Anteaters with 21 points on 8-13 shooting from the field. He knocked down 2-out-of-5 three-pointers and was a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line
> Collin Welp finished in double-digits with 11 points, a team-best three assists and one steal
> Brad Greene grabbed a team-high seven boards
> UCI shot 40.7 percent (24-59) and went 5-14 (.357) from long range. UCI was 31-59 (.525) shooting from the field overall and shot 53.8 percent (14-26) from behind the arc
> The 'Eaters held a slight 28-26 advantage in paint points and a 38-16 edge in bench points
> UCR held a slight edge in rebounds, 34-33, and assists, 9-5
> Dominick Pickett led the Highlanders with a game-high 22 points on 6-8 shooting from long range

FIRST HALF
> 'Eaters trailed 7-0 before Jeron Artest knocked down a three-pointer at 18:20
> UCR went on a 15-4 run to take a 22-7 lead with 12:37 remaining
> Welp made a jumper (11:30) to start a 7-0 run for the 'Eaters that narrowed the Highlander lead, 22-14, with 10:13 to play
> UCR responded with a 7-0 run of its own to go up, 29-14 (8:14)
> Artest knocked down a three-pointer at 1:27 to make it 27-38 in favor of the hosts
> UCR closed out the half with three-straight points to take a 41-28 lead into the locker rooms

SECOND HALF
> Two layups from Greene and one from Welp gave the 'Eaters six points early in the second frame but UCI still trailed, 51-34, with 16:08 remaining
> Davis scored nine-consecutive points for the 'Eaters to make it 67-47 with 8:47 to play
> Welp hit a jumper followed by a three-pointer at 6:33 to make it, 70-55
> Davis scored seven points down the stretch as UCI suffered an 86-65 defeat

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"We got outplayed by a team that was better than us tonight, and credit UC Riverside for that. They came out more prepared physically and mentally than us and you could see that on both sides of the ball. We looked really soft and uncertain to start the game and we got down 7-0 really quickly. Credit to UCR for being able to dominate us like that for 40 minutes."

UP NEXT
> UCI will play its second game against UC Riverside tomorrow at 9 p.m. PT on ESPNU

Notes: The loss snaps a 13-game winning streak against UCR … The 'Eaters have lost two in a row and their first Friday game of a Friday/Saturday Big West series … Davis was two points shy of a career-high