Men’s Basketball Leans on Strong First Half, Defeats IVC

Freshman forward Reggie Ward bagged his seventh-straight double-digit scoring game in a dominant performance over the Irvine Valley College Lasers in a 57-45 victory on Wednesday night. The Tigers forced 16 turnovers that resulted in a huge swing in the game.

Two players landed in double digits with Ward flushing 20 points. Two of his buckets went the way of slam dunks to prove his agility in the paint. He added six rebounds and two assists in the process. Freshman guard Tomi Adesiji was the other Tiger to land in double digits with 10 points in a whopping 36 minutes of action. He went 4-for-7 from the hardwood while burying two three pointers down the stretch.

Sophomore center Raymond Hawkins earned his first start in five games and made the most of it by recording eight points in 18 minutes of action.

It was a sluggish game to say the least in a very low scoring affair, but Hawkins credited their second-half adjustments on the defensive end that set the tone.

"We made sure that we executed the plays all the way through," said Hawkins. "Sometimes we get a little distracted by the defense and we tend to do our own thing. When we run a play all the way through, we score off of it."

The first half was strong despite only etching 33 points, but they stayed true to the game plan and continued to listen to Head Coach Phil Mathews' game plan. With that being said, the Tigers are on the playoff prowl.

"We have a big week ahead of us. We are trying to get into the playoffs and get a good seed. We took a loss that we weren't supposed to take last week, so we came with some energy in the beginning for sure."

Riverside shot 50 percent from long range and 42.6 percent overall. They outrebounded the Lasers by one while only surrendering the lead once throughout the entire game.