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GAME NOTES: The UC Riverside Highlanders take aim at their first three-game win streak since early December as they saddle up against Big West Conference foe Pacific at the Spanos Center tonight.

Riverside, which is just 4-9 in conference play this season, took care of UC Irvine last week with a 74-57 victory at home and then topped Youngstown State, 62-60, over the weekend as well.

As for the Tigers, who trail only UC Santa Barbara in the league standings at the moment, they are hoping to bounce back from an 84-78 home loss to New Mexico State last weekend, a decision that snapped a brief two-game win streak for the group.

The Tigers own an overwhelming 14-2 mark in the all-time series with UCR, taking out the Highlanders in the first meeting of the season last month by a final of 72-57.

The Highlanders led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but the squad allowed Youngstown State to battle back and tie the score at 60-60 with 24 seconds remaining. Thankfully, David Chavarria was up to the challenge as he knocked down a put-back with 0.3 seconds remaining for the game-winner. Chavarria scored all seven of his points in the final six minutes, leaving the bulk of the scoring up to Kyle Austin (13 points), Brandon Dowdy (11) and Larry Gurganious (10) on the night. One of two players to have started all 26 games for UC Riverside this season, Austin also stands as the lone double- digit scorer with his 18.1 ppg. If not for his mere 61.8 percent accuracy at the free-throw line, Austin could be even more significant at the offensive end of the floor for the Highlanders. The squad scores just 63.6 ppg, but make things interesting by limiting opponents to 64.0 ppg at the same time.

Everything went wrong for the Tigers in the second half of their meeting with New Mexico State last weekend as they not only shot just 38.6 percent from the field, they allowed the Aggies to hit on 63 percent from the floor and 7-of-12 beyond the arc, not to mention being outscored at the free-throw line in the frame, 14-4. Demetrece Young tallied a game-high 27 points, Sam Willard added 16 and seven boards and Royal Edwards tacked on 11 points in 15 minutes off the bench as well. In the last four games Pacific has had a different leading scorer, but for the season overall the top man is Willard with his 10.5 ppg, the lone double-digit scorer at the moment. The Tigers are putting up just 65.7 ppg and have left quite a number of points at the free-throw line where they have converted just 65.8 percent this season. Thankfully, the defense has been doing its job for the most part by holding foes to only 60.5 ppg this year.

There's a reason why Pacific has dominated this relationship over the years and even though the Tigers don't have a single player who carries the scoring burden from game to game, that doesn't mean they can't win at home tonight.