Pacific starts fast, rollsover Riverside, 82-54

Chad Troyer scored a game-high 21 points and Steffan Johnson had 18 points and seven assists to lead Pacific to an 82-54 rout of UC Riverside in a Big West Conference opener Wednesday night at Stockton.

The Tigers shot 60% from the field and had a 37-18 rebounding advantage to dominate at both ends of the court. Pacific’s lead never fell below 25 points the final 17 minutes of the game.

Michael Kirby came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points and Michael Nunnally had 11 points for Pacific, 9-4 overall, 1-0 in the Big West, which also made 45% of its three-point attempts. Larry Cunningham scored 14 points and Jalonni Diggs scored 12 for UC Riverside (3-9, 0-1), which shot only 33% from the field.

Pacific rolled behind the play of its backcourt, as its top trio of guards -- starters Troyer and Johnson and sixth man Kirby -- combined to make 18 of 29 shots from the field, including 11 of 23 from three-point range.

Johnson’s two free throws completed a 9-0 run to give Pacific its largest lead at 76-42 with 5:08 to play before Coach Bob Thomason cleared his bench.

Pacific’s lead was up to double digits only six minutes into the game, and the Tigers shot a sizzling 71.4% from the field during the first half while building a 22-point halftime lead.

WOMEN

No. 6 Rutgers 55, Pepperdine 45 -- Matee Ajavon scored 16 points and the Scarlet Knights won their fifth in a row at Piscataway, N.J.

Epiphanny Prince and Rashidat Junaid added 12 each for Rutgers (10-2), which didn’t pull away until Ajavon, Prince and Essence Carson led a 12-2 spurt in the final 10 minutes.

Daphanie Kennedy and Katie Menton scored 10 points each to lead Pepperdine (5-7), which finished 0-3 on an East Coast swing that also included losses to Coppin State and George Washington.