Box Score RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Joe Rosga (St. Paul, Minn.) led the Pioneers with 11 points as the University of Denver men's basketball team dropped its final non-league contest to the UC-Riverside Highlanders 63-54 Tuesday evening at The SRC Arena.

UC-Riverside started the second half with a 12-0 run that opened up a 15-point lead that Denver could not recover from. A Nate Engesser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) 3-pointer gave Denver its first points of the second half with 13:48 remaining.

Trailing 53-34 Denver went on a 7-0 run to cut the UC-Riverside lead to 53-41. The Pioneers were able to cut the lead to 59-51, but could not get any closer as they finished non-league play 8-5.

"I thought we fought hard all game." head coach Joe Scott said. "We showed our youth at the beginning of the second half. We allowed their run to go too far. That was tonight's learning experience and I thought we did a good job of continuing to fight. We are 8-5 and our non-league schedule has down a world of good in developing our team mentality and identity."

Engesser finished the game with 10 points. Thomas Neff (Arvada, Colo.) finished with six points and a season-best six assists. Jake Pemberton (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) finished with seven points, four rebounds and three assists.

UC-Riverside jumped out to an early 9-4 lead early in the first half before DU was able to go on an 8-3 run to tie the game at 12. A Duke Douglas (New Orleans, La.) bucket gave the Crimson and Gold their first lead of the half at 18-16. The Highlanders opened a 26-20 lead before Bryant Rucker (Frisco, Texas) and Engesser hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game. UCR's Jaylen Bland hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to give the Highlanders a 29-26 edge going into halftime.

Bland led all scorers in the first half with 14 points. Engesser led the Pioneers with seven points. Denver had six steals to UCR's two. The Highlanders outrebounded Denver 15-8, but DU's bench outscored UC-Riverside 11-6.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes from inside the arc as the Pioneers shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from the floor, while the Highlanders hit 52.2 percent (12-of-23). Denver hit 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from behind the arc in the opening half. UC-Riverside shot 30.0 percent (3-of-10) from behind the 3-point line in the first half.

Denver shot 46.7 percent (21-of-45) in the game, while UC-Riverside shot 52.5 percent (21-of-40). The Pioneers shot 39.1 percent from behind the 3-point line (9-of-23). The Highlanders hit 38.5 percent (5-of-13) from 3-point range. The Highlanders knocked down 16-of-25 from the free-throw line to Denver's 3-of-6.

The Highlanders were led by Bland's 20 points and Taylor Johns chipped in with 14.

Notes: The Pioneers have now hit a 3-pointer in 298 consecutive games.

Denver will return to play on Friday, Jan. 1 at 6 p.m. MT at South Dakota State to open Summit League play. The game can be heard on Mile High Sports Radio AM1340 with Raj Sharan on play-by-play duties and streamed on Pioneer Vision via audio. For subscription information to Pioneer Vision please visit www.denverpioneers.com.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets to upcoming Denver men's basketball home games can do so by phone at 303-871-2336, in person at the Ritchie Center box office or through DenverPioneers.com by clicking here.

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