California State University at Northridge
3-10
#4 Louisville
11-0
Maxwell Breaks 44-Year Mark But No. 4 Louisville Beats CSUN 80-55
12/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. –
Stephen Maxwell recorded a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Stephan Hicks added 19 points but the CSUN Matadors (3-10) were defeated 80-55 by the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals (11-0) in a non-conference game at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday night. The Cardinals poured in 11 3-pointers in the game to distance themselves from the Matadors, who were within eight points with just 12 minutes remaining.
With his fourth rebound of the game, Maxwell set CSUN's all-time record for career rebounds with 808. He surpassed Jerry Joseph (1967-70), who had held the record of 807 for nearly 45 years.
"I thought that when the energy levels of both teams were the same, we competed extremely well," said CSUN head coach Reggie Theus. "I am really proud of the way our guys fought. If you look at it statistically, there's only one statistic that says why we lost the game and that's 3-pointers."
The Cardinals opened up the game quickly by jumping out to a 15-2 lead. However, the Matadors responded as Hicks and Maxwell combined to draw the team back within six points. The duo had eight and 10 points at halftime, respectively, as CSUN kept pace with Louisville and trailed 36-25 going into the locker room.
After Terry Rozier put the Cardinals ahead by 16 with 17 minutes to play in the game, the Matadors came storming back to bring the crowd back on its feet. Hicks converted a pair of three-point plays and Devonte Elliott had one of his own to close the gap to nine points with 10:38 on the clock.
From there Louisville went on a 25-9 run to close out the game, which included four 3-pointers down the stretch.
Other than 3-point shooting, which Louisville dominated 11-0, the Matadors and Cardinals were close to even in other statistical categories. Both teams grabbed 36 rebounds and had 28 points in the paint. The Matadors led the transition game (10-6), had more second-chance points (10-7), and hit more free throws (17-15). While both sides took 57 shots on the night, Louisville made eight more and shot 47.4 percent from the floor.
Maxwell finished the game shooting 7-of-14 from the field and made 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Hicks also shot 50 percent (6-for-12) and made 7-of-8 free throws, while Elliott matched his season high with nine rebounds and had nine points. Tre Hale-Edmerson led the team with four assists and pulled in seven rebounds.
Wayne Blackshear went 11-for-17 in the game, including 6-for-11 from beyond the arc, to lead all scorers with 31 points. Rozier had 16 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
The announced crowd of 20, 231 was the second largest to witness a CSUN basketball game in history. The largest was 20,999 for the Matadors' game at Brigham Young on November 24, 2012.
The Matadors return home for their next game and will host Stephen F. Austin on Monday, Dec. 29. Tipoff against the Lumberjacks is set for 7 p.m. at The Blacktop @ The Matadome.
