University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, December 3
Riverside, CA
8:00 p.m.
University of Northern Colorado
1-6
66
at
77
University of California Riverside
5-2
1
2
F
Northern Colorado
25
41
66
UC Riverside
48
29
77
Team Stats
UNCO
UCR
FG%
.369
.446
3FG%
.389
.375
FT%
.647
.692
RB
34
41
TO
10
12
STL
4
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Rob Trubia
Davis, Wilson Combine For 42 Points In Loss To UC-Riverside
12/3/2015 11:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
freshman and junior guards, Jordan Davis and Jordan Wilson score 42 of the Bears 66 points in the loss.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Northern Colorado (1-6) couldn't shake its losing streak on Thursday night, falling to UC-Riverside (5-2), 77-66.
Freshman guard, Jordan Davis exploded on to the scene, having a career-night in the loss with 22 points, including scoring 16 in the second half.
Veteran guard, Jordan Wilson played to his experience also reaching 20 points for the first time this season. The junior dropped 20 on the night, adding in 18 points in the last half of the game, with 15 of those points coming off three balls.
"We showed some resilience tonight and this is a good team (UC-Riverside) and this game gave us a better feel for where we are at," head coach B.J. Hill said. "I am happy – we showed some toughness. A lot of the time we had three freshmen and a sophomore on the court and that's just a great learning experience for this team."
The Bears kept it close in the early goings of the game (19-13), before UC-Riverside opened the flood gates, going on a decisive 23-4 run, making it a 42-17 game with under five minutes remaining in the game.
Redshirt sophomore, Jeremy Verhagen scored the final four points of the half for UNC to have some momentum heading into halftime. Verhagen ended his night in double figures with 10, his third double-digit game of the season.
The Bears headed into the locker room down, 48-25.
"I was telling some guys before the game when you go through this process to learn, are you going through the process, or are you growing through it," Hill added. "Tonight we took a big step forward in terms of growing into what we need to be."
The second half was a completely different story for the young Bears squad, with the team finally finding its rhythm on the offensive end of the court.
Northern Colorado opened the second half on a 9-3 run, behind four points from Davis to make it a 51-34 game with 15:34 remaining.
UC-Riverside responded to the rally, with eight straight points of its own to push the lead back out to 26 points (60-34), as UNC was unable to find the basket for over two minutes.
Wilson nailed one of his five three's in the second half to end the Bears' drought.
The Highlanders lead was as high as 28 points before the duo of Davis and Wilson took over and helped the team claw back into the game.
With 6:37 to play on the clock, Davis sliced his way through the lane for two, to spark a 12-0 run, with the freshman scoring 10 of those 12 points.
With the scoreboard reading 69-53, Wilson hit two more treys and converted three straight makes from the charity stripe to extend the run to 19-6, with redshirt freshman forward, Ibrahim Sylla chipping in a free throw.
"From a coaching stand point, the habits start in practice and if you're not coming to practice trying to dominate someone it's too much of a step up come game night because that other team is sure as heck trying to dominate you," Hill said. "Right now, we are learning how to practice and that sounds crazy twenty five practices in, but when you don't have Cam [Michae] and Jon'te [Dotson] and some other guys out there to help you in practice, there's some slippage."
The Bears erased its 28 point deficit all the way down to nine (75-66) with another Wilson make beyond the arc with 20.2 seconds to play.
Unfortunately, the late comeback ran out of time and two free throws from UC-Riverside sealed Northern Colorado's fate, 77-66.
When it was all said and done, UNC ended the contest on a 25-8 run with Davis and Wilson combining for 22 of the 25 points (Davis 10, Wilson 12).
Northern Colorado returns home for three straight games, looking to put its five-game losing skid in the past, beginning on Dec. 9 with York College at 7:00 p.m. inside Bank of Colorado Arena.
UNC then hosts in-state foes Colorado State (Dec. 13) and Denver (Dec. 16) before ending non-conference play on the road at Jacksonville State (Dec. 21) and Mississippi State (Dec. 23).
Freshman guard, Jordan Davis exploded on to the scene, having a career-night in the loss with 22 points, including scoring 16 in the second half.
Veteran guard, Jordan Wilson played to his experience also reaching 20 points for the first time this season. The junior dropped 20 on the night, adding in 18 points in the last half of the game, with 15 of those points coming off three balls.
"We showed some resilience tonight and this is a good team (UC-Riverside) and this game gave us a better feel for where we are at," head coach B.J. Hill said. "I am happy – we showed some toughness. A lot of the time we had three freshmen and a sophomore on the court and that's just a great learning experience for this team."
The Bears kept it close in the early goings of the game (19-13), before UC-Riverside opened the flood gates, going on a decisive 23-4 run, making it a 42-17 game with under five minutes remaining in the game.
Redshirt sophomore, Jeremy Verhagen scored the final four points of the half for UNC to have some momentum heading into halftime. Verhagen ended his night in double figures with 10, his third double-digit game of the season.
The Bears headed into the locker room down, 48-25.
"I was telling some guys before the game when you go through this process to learn, are you going through the process, or are you growing through it," Hill added. "Tonight we took a big step forward in terms of growing into what we need to be."
The second half was a completely different story for the young Bears squad, with the team finally finding its rhythm on the offensive end of the court.
Northern Colorado opened the second half on a 9-3 run, behind four points from Davis to make it a 51-34 game with 15:34 remaining.
UC-Riverside responded to the rally, with eight straight points of its own to push the lead back out to 26 points (60-34), as UNC was unable to find the basket for over two minutes.
Wilson nailed one of his five three's in the second half to end the Bears' drought.
The Highlanders lead was as high as 28 points before the duo of Davis and Wilson took over and helped the team claw back into the game.
With 6:37 to play on the clock, Davis sliced his way through the lane for two, to spark a 12-0 run, with the freshman scoring 10 of those 12 points.
With the scoreboard reading 69-53, Wilson hit two more treys and converted three straight makes from the charity stripe to extend the run to 19-6, with redshirt freshman forward, Ibrahim Sylla chipping in a free throw.
"From a coaching stand point, the habits start in practice and if you're not coming to practice trying to dominate someone it's too much of a step up come game night because that other team is sure as heck trying to dominate you," Hill said. "Right now, we are learning how to practice and that sounds crazy twenty five practices in, but when you don't have Cam [Michae] and Jon'te [Dotson] and some other guys out there to help you in practice, there's some slippage."
The Bears erased its 28 point deficit all the way down to nine (75-66) with another Wilson make beyond the arc with 20.2 seconds to play.
Unfortunately, the late comeback ran out of time and two free throws from UC-Riverside sealed Northern Colorado's fate, 77-66.
When it was all said and done, UNC ended the contest on a 25-8 run with Davis and Wilson combining for 22 of the 25 points (Davis 10, Wilson 12).
Northern Colorado returns home for three straight games, looking to put its five-game losing skid in the past, beginning on Dec. 9 with York College at 7:00 p.m. inside Bank of Colorado Arena.
UNC then hosts in-state foes Colorado State (Dec. 13) and Denver (Dec. 16) before ending non-conference play on the road at Jacksonville State (Dec. 21) and Mississippi State (Dec. 23).
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