Thursday, March 13th, 9:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Anaheim Convention Center (7,734) -- Anaheim, California. Television: None. Home Record: UC Riverside 8-5, Fullerton 11-3. Away Record: UC Riverside 0-15, Fullerton 9-5. Neutral Record: UC Riverside 1-0, Fullerton 1-0. Conference Record: UC Riverside 4-12, Fullerton 12-4.

GAME NOTES: The Big West Conference Tournament continues in Anaheim tonight, as the UC Riverside Highlanders will collide with the Cal State Fullerton Titans in a quarterfinal-round matchup. UC Riverside posted a mere 8-20 ledger during the regular season, which included a dismal 4-12 mark in league play. The Highlanders, however, advanced in this tourney following a 62-54 victory over Cal Poly on Wednesday night. As for Cal State Fullerton, it matched a school-record 21 victories with a 74-66 victory over UC Irvine last Saturday and captured the BWC regular season co-championship with UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge in the process. The Titans finished Big West play with a 12-4 ledger, and won eight of their last 10 games to close the regular season. Fullerton won both meetings with Riverside during the regular season.

UC Riverside held Cal Poly to a horrific 28.8 percent shooting effort in Wednesday's eight-point win, including just a 6-of-28 showing from beyond the arc. The Highlanders forced 11 turnovers and converted 21-of-31 from the charity stripe. Larry Cunningham poured in a game-high 23 points and collected six rebounds to pace Riverside, while Aaron Scott tallied 11 points to go with eight boards. Cleavon Barlow netted just two points, but hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds for the Highlanders. Cunningham is the lone Highlander with a double-digit scoring average, checking in with 16.1 ppg. UCR is shooting 42.2 percent from the floor, resulting in a lowly 59.8 ppg.

Cal State Fullerton shot a solid 47.3 percent from the field during the eight- point victory over UC Irvine last time out, and the Titans held the Anteaters to just 41.1 percent from the floor, including 6-of-23 from long range. The Titans converted 15-of-17 from the charity stripe in the win, and forced 15 turnovers. Josh Akognon scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Fullerton, while Frank Robinson added 14 points to go with six boards as well. Ray Reed tallied 12 points, and Marcus Crenshaw chipped in 10 off the bench for the Titans. Akognon averaged 19.6 ppg to lead the Titans in scoring during the regular season, helping lead Fullerton to a whopping 82.7 ppg. Robinson and Scott Cutley also achieved a double-digit average, tallying 16.1 and 14.6 ppg. Both are solid rebounders as well.

Fullerton should have little trouble posting its third win of the season over Riverside, and advance to the next round.

Predicted Outcome

Cal State Fullerton 77, UC Riverside 63