FULLERTON — The UC Riverside men’s basketball team won’t be left out of the conversation either.
The Highlanders held on to beat Cal State Fullerton, 75-72, in a Big West Conference game on Thursday night at Titan Gym, further tightening the standings with one regular-season game remaining.
Wil Tattersall and Zyon Pullin scored 15 points each for UCR (16-10 overall, 9-5 Big West), which leapfrogged into third place with one game left in the regular season.
UCR helped itself by shooting 12 for 21 from 3-point range and 55.3% overall.
“Made some shots today,” said second-year UC Riverside coach Mike Magpayo. “That was really the story.”
UCR travels to conference leader Long Beach State (17-11, 11-3) for a regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon.
UC Riverside can lock up a top-three seed in the conference tournament for a second straight year with a win, while LBSU can secure its first regular-season title since 2013. Long Beach guaranteed itself no worse than a share of the title on Thursday but will be looking to win the title outright.
Cal State Fullerton, meanwhile, missed a chance to lock up one of the top two seeds in the conference tournament (March 8-12 in Henderson, Nev.), which serves as the lone avenue for a Big West team to reach the 68-team NCAA Tournament.
Damari Milstead scored a season-high 26 points and E.J. Anosikie had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Titans (17-10, 10-4).
“We controlled our own destination in terms of our effort and our energy, and I just feel like we didn’t have it throughout the course of the whole game,” Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said. “I felt like it was sporadic at best.”
The Titans close their regular season on Saturday against visiting UC Davis, which lost to Long Beach State on a last-second 3-pointer on Thursday night.
UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine also have five losses in Big West play, but they have played fewer games than UCR and Hawaii, which is tied for third with the Highlanders, but lost its only meeting against UCR this season.
UC Riverside was seeded third in last season’s conference tournament, the highest seed in program history, and Magpayo expects the competition to be even closer next week.
“Anybody can win it and they’re all going to be tightly contested,” Magpayo said. “We kind of went into (Thursday) saying it’s a survive-and-advance mentality already.”
Neither team led by more than five points on Thursday until UCR went on an 8-0 run to take a 55-46 lead with 12:18 left.
UC Riverside was still ahead 74-66 after making two free throws with 1:28 left, but Milstead converted a three-point play then hit a 3-pointer, and the Titans suddenly trailed by just two points with 48 seconds left.
The Titans then blocked a shot on the other end, but Milstead missed a 3-point attempt in transition and Jalen Harris missed a short jumper after stealing the ball from Callum McRae as he rebounded the ball.
Dominick Pickett made one of two free throws with four seconds left and Milstead missed a shot from midcourt at the buzzer.
“We played well when we played desperate, but that’s not how to win championships,” Milstead said. “We’ve got to be playing hard early.”