CS Dominguez Hills Falls to UC Riverside

Cal State Dominguez Hills and UC Riverside were shorthanded Thursday night, but the Toros were still overmatched in a 64-51 loss to the Highlanders in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game at UC Riverside.

The Toros suited up only eight players. Guard Chris Thompson suffered a knee injury in practice earlier in the week and forward Darnell Patterson was held out pending an eligibility check.

Riverside (15-5, 5-2 in conference play), which remained in second place in the CCAA behind undefeated Cal State Bakersfield, was without leading scorer Charles Purdom, who quit the team on Monday.

“It didn’t matter if we had five players or eight players or who wasn’t there,” Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai said. “We don’t dwell on those types of things. All that mattered was who we had tonight.”

What the Toros did not have was rebounding. Dominguez Hills, which was outrebounded, 50-26, in a 82-73 loss to the Highlanders on Jan. 23, was at a 42-32 disadvantage Thursday.

“We didn’t have to reorganize or do anything special because of the missing players,” said Dominguez Hills forward Vince Washington, who had a game-high 19 points and three steals. “We just needed to block out and rebound to win.”

And perhaps shoot a little better as well.

Dominguez Hills (14-6, 4-4), which fell into fourth place in the conference, made only nine of 25 shots (36%) in the second half and 20 of 52 (38.5%) in the game.

Despite early foul trouble, the Toros trailed 31-28 at halftime after falling behind by as many as eight points in the first half. Washington converted a three-point play to tie the score, 35-35, with 16:09 left.

The Highlanders held the Toros scoreless during a 4:58 span to open a 55-41 lead with 8:58 to play. Jeff Bronner scored eight of his 15 points during the stretch, including two three-point baskets.

Riverside made eight three-point baskets, including five in the first half. Chris Hantgin and Bronner made consecutive three-point baskets to give the Highlanders a 17-10 advantage with just over 12 minutes left in the first half.

Wayne Gipson, who had 14 of his 18 points in the first half, extended the Highlanders’ lead to 27-19 on his second three-point basket with four minutes left before halftime.

Raymond Bennett made a 17-foot jump shot and Albert Killehua scored on a short jump shot to help the Toros cut the deficit to 30-28 with 1:33 remaining.