@unco_mbb Remains Perfect at Home With Win Over UC Riverside

Tuesday, December 20

Greeley, CO

6:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

4-7 (0-0)

University of California Riverside

1-7 (0-0)

UC Riverside

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/20/2016 9:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado (4-7, 0-0 Big Sky) used two big runs and a 22-point performance from junior guard, DJ Miles to secure a 77-61 win over UC Riverside (1-7, 0-0 Big West) on Tuesday night.

How It Happened:
Neither team found much separation in the first 13 minutes of the game as the largest lead the Bears or the Highlanders could muster was four points.

Trailing 24-22 after a three-point play by UCR's James Jackson, UNC's offense found its rhythm behind Miles.The Otero Junior College transfer scored seven straight points in consecutive possessions to send the Bears off on a 14-4 run to end the half.

Miles scored 15 of his 22 points in the first 20 minutes of the game to give Northern Colorado a 36-28 advantage heading into the locker room.

UNC picked up right where it left off in the second half as the Bears outscored the Highlanders 11-4 in the first three minutes of the second act.

Already owning a 59-44 with 8:28 to play, Northern Colorado opened the flood gates with a 16-2 run, with 10 of those points coming from redshirt sophomore guard, Chaz Glotta.

Glotta drilled back-to-back three-balls from NBA range, and then converted a four-point play for the Bears after an Alex Larsson lay-in for UCR to push it to 73-46 with 4:13 remaining in the contest.

The Highlanders did outscore UNC 15-4 in the closing minutes, but the deficit was too large to overcome, giving Northern Colorado an early present heading into the holiday break.

The Bears played solid defense on the night, holding UCR to 37% shooting, the third game in a row UNC has held its opponent to under 45% shooting from the field.

Besides Miles' 22 points, Glotta, sophomore guard, Jordan Davis and redshirt sophomore forward, Ibrahim Sylla all finished in double figures.

Glotta notched 15 points, while both Davis and Sylla tallied 12.

Game Changer:
DJ Miles was the spark Northern Colorado needed to ignite its offense. Miles produced 22 points off the bench for the Bears, his second consecutive game finishing with 22, which also tied his career-best.

Key Stat:
This was the fifth game this season that UNC has knocked down 10 or more three-pointers. The Bears finished 10-of-22 (45.5%) from beyond the arc.

In Their Words:
Junior guard, DJ Miles
"I feel like we are going to shock a lot of people. We've been working hard in practice every day and it's finally starting to show – even in the losses that we've taken, but we're getting better and we're going to surprise a lot of people when conference play starts."

"At first they (UC Riverside) just wanted to get out and push it and see if we could keep up with them, but I think the altitude got to them and our defense just really focused on getting stops."

Redshirt sophomore forward, Ibrahim Sylla
"I'm starting to realize that I'm stronger than I really think – I'm more athletic than I really think I am. I'm starting to realize my teammates need me, so I've taken that into consideration and started to demand the ball more now. I'm gaining more confidence, and the more reps I get in practice, the more comfortable I am in games."

Head Coach, Jeff Linder
"That's always a really tough game to play the one right before guys leave for Christmas break. I commend my guys for not packing it in and wanting to be home. That's something this team has shown since June 1 when we started team workouts. In that time, we've had a lot of practices and very, very few, maybe on one hand, bad practices. Even though our record is 4-7, this team is better than a 4-7 team and as we move forward into Big Sky play I think we are going to surprise a lot of people."

"I think we're really starting to understand how I want the ball to move, and then our pace. I think our pace really caused UC Riverside some problems tonight. Coming from sea level sometimes those teams they struggle. Those stretches where we opened it up in the first half and the second half our pace eventually wore them down."

Notables:
- Northern Colorado shot 52.7% from the floor on the night, just the third time this season they have shot over 50.0% or better from the field.
- UNC remains a perfect 3-0 at home and 2-0 in Greeley against UC Riverside.
- The Bears led by as many as 27 points in the contest.
- Northern Colorado was a lethal 6-of-10 (60%) from three-point range in the second half.
- Freshman forward, Kai Edwards led the team in rebounding in the win, hauling in nine boards, while Jordan Davis was the assist leader with seven.

Up Next:
The men's hoops team will now get a short break before venturing out to begin Big Sky play on the west coast. UNC opens league games at Sacramento State (Dec. 29) and Portland State (Dec. 31).