Jeter Shows Riverside His Finishing Touch

UC Riverside knew all about Portland’s Pooh Jeter before Wednesday’s night nonconference game but like many others, the Highlanders couldn’t stop him.

Jeter, one of the West Coast Conference’s top players, scored eight of his game-high 25 points in the final three minutes to help the Pilots pull out a 76-70 victory in front of 518 at the UCR Student Recreation Center.

“He’s nice,” Riverside forward Vili Morton said of Jeter. “He’s a great guard, and he’s really quick. He just made plays, and myself and the other big [men] needed to jump out at him more.”

The loss cost Riverside (4-4) a chance to build some momentum heading into Big West Conference play next week. Portland moved to 9-3.

“We’re playing hard, but we definitely need to work on our focus and keeping our concentration throughout the game,” forward David Jobe said.

Morton had 18 points and eight rebounds, but he made only six of 13 free-throw attempts. Freshman Larry Cunningham had a season-high 19 points to lead Riverside.

“I know nobody feels worse about it than he does about it,” Riverside Coach John Masi said of Morton. “You’re going to have to shoot 60 to 70% as a big man or they’re going to continue to foul you and use you as an escape hatch.”

Cunningham had 15 points in the first half, making all five of his three-point tries, but was poked in the eye during a scramble with 4:51 left and didn’t return.

-- Eric Stephens

Pepperdine 91, Arkansas State 82 -- Yakhouba Diawara matched career highs with 30 points and 10 rebounds, leading the Waves (8-3) past the Indians (5-4) in the Golden Bear Classic at Berkeley.

Pepperdine (8-3) advanced to tonight’s championship against host California.

Diawara scored 17 points after halftime to help the Waves hold off a rally after leading by 25 early in the second half. The Indians got within six points with 2:50 left but could get no closer.

San Diego 71, Santa Barbara 63 -- Nick Lewis had 20 points and 11 rebounds at San Diego as the Toreros(6-5) beat the Gauchos (2-5) for their third straight victory. Joe See had 17 points for the Gauchos, who lost their fourth straight road game.

From Times Staff and Wire Reports