RIVERSIDE — In his final Crosstown Showdown, Dominique Daniels Jr. had the “CBU Crazies” feeling a certain kind of way.
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California Baptist University’s Devon Malcolm goes for a dunk against UC Riverside’s BJ Kolly in a nonconference men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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California Baptist University’s Devon Malcolm goes for a dunk against UC Riverside’s BJ Kolly in a nonconference men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
To chants of, “This is our town,” Daniels scored a game-high 25 points as the California Baptist University men’s basketball team ran away with an 80-57 victory over UC Riverside at the Fowler Events Center on Tuesday night.
“If that’s what they feel then that’s what it is at the end of the day,” Daniels said. “That’s the crowd. That’s the fans, and we love our fans.”
Daniels shot 7 of 15 from the field — making 3 of 5 from 3-point range — and also was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free-throw line as CBU improved to 4-0 overall for the first time since 2021.
“It’s an intense game with UCR each and every time we play,” Daniels said. “The energy level is always up there.”
The 5-foot-9 shooting guard, a former two-time all-state selection at San Bernardino Valley College and this year’s WAC preseason player of the year, is among the leading scorers in NCAA Division I at 21.5 points per game.
“It takes a whole team to try to guard (Daniels),” UC Riverside first-year coach Gus Argenal said. “I wish our team had a better showing in our first one, but there’s doing to be a lot of good ones to come.”
UC Riverside still holds a 36-6 edge in the all-time series dating to 1954, but CBU is 5-2 against UC Riverside since moving to Division I and 5-5 over the last 10 meetings overall.
“We have a confident group and there’s no question – they wanted to send a message,” CBU coach Rick Croy said.
Jayden Jackson, Martel Williams, Devon Malcolm and Jonathan Griman all totaled 10 or more points for CBU, which shot better than 45% from the field in taking a double-digit lead midway through the first half.
“We came out with good energy, and we were able to sustain that throughout the whole game,” Daniels said.
Nine different players grabbed rebounds for the Lancers, who totaled 24 boards in the first half while holding a 39-24 lead.
“Our guys have been good on the glass so far this year,” Rick Croy said. “We want to own that part of the game.”
Junior transfer Thomas Ndong (Oregon State), who had 14 rebounds against Western Illinois last week, led CBU with nine rebounds. Griman, who continues to see the first extended minutes of his career, had a couple of put-back dunks and finished with seven rebounds and three blocks.
“(Griman) improved drastically over the last few years,” Daniels said. “He’s going to help us a lot. He can finish and dunk over some guys.”
Marqui Worthy Jr. continues to lead UC Riverside (2-3) in scoring and had a team-high 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting in 30 minutes. He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“Great test for (Worthy),” Argenal said. “He’ll have to get used to guarding small guards like Daniels because the Big West has a bunch of them.”
CBU led by 20 points for most of the second half and went up 22 on a layup by Daniels with 10:20 left in the second half.
Big West Conference commissioner Dan Butterly was among the 3,766 in attendance and seated next to CBU President Dr. Ronald Ellis throughout the game. The Lancers join the Big West next year.
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