AMES, Iowa – It took until after New Year’s Day and 10 games for UC Riverside to pick up its first win last season.

A new year, new players and one game against Eastern have the Highlanders in a completely different mindset as UCR defeated the Panthers 64-55 in both teams’ second game of the Cyclone Classic at Hilton Coliseum.

“It’s great to get that monkey off our back so early,” UC Riverside acting head coach Vonn Webb said. “Some of the new guys asked ‘Coach when did we get our first win last year?’ and I had to say conference.”

With Eastern (0-2) up 20-7 with 8:18 left in the first half, a frustrated Webb sat all three of his starting guards. The substitution produced a quicker tempo and frustrated the Panthers backcourt players on the defensive end.

“I was searching for combinations and I’m really proud of how those guys performed,” Webb said.

During the final 6:40 of the first half UCR (1-1) and its new lineup, outscored the Panthers 11-0 after Eastern got into early foul trouble.

“When you’re playing well early and that happens to you sometimes that can be difficult,” Eastern head coach Mike Miller said.

The Highlanders were led at that point by freshman guard Korri Ennis and his eight points, five of which were in the first half.

“Korri is a gamer and I wish he’d show so much more consistency in practice,” Webb said. “He got the game ball today.”

The Brandon, Fla., native averaged 19 points per game in high school but was most effective in the full-court pressure defense UCR executed on the Eastern guards.

“We knew once we got in there it was like okay, our brothers are in trouble, let’s help them,” Ennis said.

Riverside’s bench outscored the Panthers subs 26-17, the final margin in the game, which Webb said was the key in the Highlanders’ victory.

“The problem last year was that we weren’t very deep and it’s nice to see the bench guys play as well as they did,” Webb said.

Because of the effort and hustle of the second group, UCR went into the locker room down only 22-21 after shooting 30 percent from the field and having committed 13 turnovers. The Highlanders kept the roll going early in the second half by relying on the players who were benched earlier.

“They were in a funk and played better once they got back in there,” Webb said.

Junior guard Larry Cunningham led all scorers with 18 points (14 in the second half) on six of nine shooting.

“There were two different Larry’s,” Webb said. “The one in the first half and the one with more energy in the second.”

UCR’s full court pressure put the clamps on 2005 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Mike Robinson. Robinson ended the game with only eight points on two of 11 shooting. The Panther point guard finished the evening without an assist for the first time since his college debut in Eastern’s 80-35 loss to Xavier on Nov. 19, 2005.

“We knew that we had to do that,” Webb said. “If we put pressure on him then it would eat up time in the (shot) clock and they wouldn’t be able to run their sets.”