Southland basketball: UC Riverside beats Nebraska; No. 11 UCLA women roll past Weber State

Reserve DJ McDonald scored a career-high 15 points, George Willborn III had 13 points and 18 rebounds, and UC Riverside upset Nebraska 66-47 to spoil Fred Hoiberg’s coaching debut with the Cornhuskers on Tuesday night.

The Big West’s Highlanders, who went 10-23 last season and have had one winning season since joining Division I in 2000, won for the first time over a Power Five opponent since beating California in November 2017.

Cam Mack had 11 points and nine rebounds and Matej Kavas added 10 for the Huskers, who lost a season opener at home for the first time since 1980.

UC Riverside made 7 of 9 3-pointers to start the second half, with McDonald hitting three in a row, and it was 59-40 when fans headed for the exits en masse at the under-4 timeout. Those who remained let out maybe the biggest cheer of the night when Kavas made an off-balance perimeter shot in the final minute.

The Highlanders, who got 14 points and four 3s from Dragan Elkaz, made 12 shots from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Huskers 49-29.

Nebraska shot just 29 percent from the field and was 9 of 19 from the foul line.

BYU 76, Cal State Fullerton 58: Alex Barcello scored 17 points, as did backcourt mate TJ Haws, and BYU defeated Cal State Fullerton 76-58 in a season opener on Tuesday night.

Barcello made 7 of 9 shots from the floor, including 3 of 4 three-pointers. Haws made 7 of his 12 field goal tries. Connor Harding had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars and Zac Seljaas matched his eight rebounds.

BYU led 38-24 at halftime and led by at least 13 points throughout the second half. Wayne Arnold’s 3-pointer for the Titans cut their deficit to 67-54 with 3:43 to go but the Cougars scored the next seven points on two layups by Haws sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Jake Toolson.

Austen Awosika had 16 points and six rebounds for the Titans. Brandonn Kamga added 10 points. Arnold had nine points and six rebounds.

Brigham Young takes on San Diego State at home on Saturday. Cal State Fullerton faces Stanford on the road on Saturday.

California 87, Pepperdine 71: Matt Bradley scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half, and California won in coach Mark Fox’s debut, beating Pepperdine 87-71 on Tuesday night in the season opener for both teams.

Andre Kelly had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Kareem South scored 14 as the Golden Bears won their opener for the first time since 2016.

Colbey Ross had 19 points and seven assists for Pepperdine. The Waves have not beaten a Pac-12 team since 2012.

Cal trailed at halftime and was down 49-46 early in the second before Bradley and Paris Austin sparked a big run that put the Bears ahead for good.

Austin scored on a pair of driving layups and two free throws, and Bradley made back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 17-0 run. Austin finished with 14 points.

Bradley shot 8 of 11 and made five 3s.

UC Irvine 76, San Diego 73: Evan Leonard hit all 10 of his free throws and scored 19 points and UC Irvine rallied for a 76-73 victory over San Diego on Tuesday night in a season opener for both teams.

Tommy Rutherford scored 16 on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor for the Anteaters, while Collin Welp scored 13.

Braun Hartfield topped the Toreros with 21 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Marion Humphrey added 14 points, while Joey Calcaterra scored 12 but missed all six of his 3-point tries.

San Diego led by 14 points at halftime before being outscored 42-25 after intermission.

San Diego travels to Long Beach State on Saturday. UC Irvine will play at Pepperdine on Saturday.

LMU 105, Westcliff 62: Ivan Alipiev had a career-high 25 points as Loyola Marymount romped past Westcliff 105-62 on Tuesday night.

Alipiev hit 5 of 7 3-pointers.

Keli Leaupepe had 15 points for Loyola Marymount. Eli Scott added 13 points while dishing out a career-best nine assists. Jonathan Dos Anjos had 12 points for the home team.

The Lions jumped out to an early lead and never slowed, taking a 48-25 lead into the break. They won the second half 57-37. LMU shot 62 percent from the field (39-62) while limiting Westcliff to 20-of-59 shooting.

Jacob Knox had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors. Nick Pete added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Loyola Marymount plays Nevada on the road on Saturday.

Oregon State 87, Cal State Northridge 67: Tres Tinkle had 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Oregon State beat Cal State Northridge in the season opener for both teams.

Kylor Kelley added 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Beavers, who return three starters from last season’s squad that finished 18-13 and tied for fourth in the Pac-12.

Terrell Gomez led Cal State Northridge with 19 points. Lamine Diane, the Big West Conference Player of the Year as a freshman last season, is currently ineligible and did not accompany the team.

Ethan Thompson had 14 points and Zach Reichle scored 13 points for OSU.

The Matadors kept things interesting in the second half and cut the lead to 63-57 on Gomez’s 3-pointer with 10:06 left.

But the Beavers responded with a 17-2 run to take command.

Tinkle scored 15 first-half points and the Beavers led 45-31 at the break. Darius Brown II scored 10 points to pace the Matadors, who made just 11 of 36 field goals (30.6 percent) against OSU’s man-to-man defense.

Payton Dastrup’s layup on an assist from Tinkle culminated an 11-0 run and extended the lead to 25-14 midway through the first half.

Cal Baptist 93, Jackson St. 70: Ferron Flavors Jr. had a career-high 22 points as California Baptist easily defeated Jackson State 93-70 on Tuesday night.

Brandon Boyd had 16 points for California Baptist. Ty Rowell added 13 points. De’jon Davis had 11 points and eight rebounds and Milan Acquaah had 11 points and seven assists.

The Lancers used a 10-0 finish to the first half to lead 36-30 and then outscored the Tigers 18-3 to open the second half and go up by 21, 54-33. The lead reached 29 points with just over four minutes remaining.

Tristan Jarrett had 22 points for the Tigers. Jevon Smith added 10 points. Jayveous McKinnis had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

California Baptist takes on Cal Lutheran at home on Friday. Jackson State takes on UC Santa Barbara on the road on Wednesday.

WOMEN

UCLA 85, Weber State 45: Freshman Charisma Osborne scored 17 points, Michaela Onyenwere added 16 and No. 11 UCLA cruised to an 85-45 season-opening win over Weber State on Tuesday night.

Osborne scored the first five points of the season and an Onyenwere jumper put the Bruins up 12-0.

Weber State went 2 of 12 in the first quarter to trail 25-7 and then missed their first five shots of the second quarter. The Wildcats shot 24% in the first half and trailed 44-19.

UCLA missed its first three shots of the third quarter but closed with 11-straight makes, pushing the lead to 67-35.

Lindsey Corsaro added 14 points and Kiara Jefferson had 12 off the bench for the Bruins. Reserve Kayla Owens had 13 rebounds.

Ula Chamberlin had 15 points for the Wildcats, but her teammates combined to go 10 for 39. Weber State had 26 turnovers and UCLA converted those into 27 points.

USC 69, Cal State Northridge 53: The Trojans, led by Alissa Pili and Endyia Rogers with 18 points apiece, blew the game open in the third quarter to take a 22-point margin into the final period. The Matadors shot only 25% from the field.