California State University at Northridge
4-11
Morgan St.
2-13
Matadors Solid in 78-62 Win Over Morgan State
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
En Español
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -
The CSUN men's basketball team lead nearly wire-to-wire as the Matadors (4-11) put in a complete performance, topping the Morgan State Bears (2-13) 78-62 in a non-conference game on Friday night at The Matadome. Four Matadors scored in double figures, Stephen Maxwell recorded a double-double and Tre Hale-Edmerson set a new career high with six assists.
"We've been playing really well and the funny thing is having one extra player made a huge difference tonight. With not having Aaron [Parks] healthy the last couple games, you're playing six guys really and it's tough," said CSUN head coach Reggie Theus. "I thought our guys played well and our defense was solid. We made a couple of mistakes early in the game but for the most part we executed."
After Morgan State made the first basket of the game, a 3-pointer from Stephan Hicks just shy of two minutes in gave CSUN a lead it would not relinquish. The triple was the first for Hicks this season and the first of five the Matadors hit in the game.
A tenacious defense coupled with a fast-paced offense allowed the Matadors to score 45 points by halftime, matching the team's best output in a half this season that was set at then-No. 2 Arizona on November 16th. CSUN led by as many as 14 points in the first half thanks to Landon Drew and Stephan Hicks tallying 11 each, but the Bears fought back and made it a five-point game going into the locker room.
The second half was back-and-forth for the most part, with the Matadors holding a lead of five to eight points consistently until the late stages of the game. Morgan State got as close as four points with 6:24 remaining on the clock before a layup by Drew and free throws from Maxwell and Taelin Webb built the cushion to 10 once more.
Devonte Elliott made a jumper with 25 seconds to play and Maxwell added two final free throws to give the Matadors a 16-point victory.
Hicks led all scorers with 22 points, his sixth night with 20 or more points this season, and had six rebounds. Maxwell finished second on the team with 20 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to earn his 35th career double-double.
"When you stay aggressive, your shots fall," said Hicks. "Once one shot falls the others start going. I think what was huge for me to get going was the three because I hadn't hit one all year."
Drew scored 13 points and had four assists and five rebounds while Aaron Parks chipped in 10 points and four rebounds in reserve. Hale-Edmerson's career night was supported by five rebounds and four blocks and Elliott scored eight points and had five rebounds.
Donte Pretlow led the Bears with 16 points and eight assists.
As a team, the Matadors shot 47.4 percent (27-for-57) from the floor and went 19-of-24 (79.2%) from the free-throw line. CSUN committed only five turnovers, its lowest total this year.
The Matadors will hit the road for the start of Big West Conference action next week with games at UC Davis (1/7) and Hawai'i (1/10). Tipoff against the Aggies in Davis, Calif., is scheduled for 7 p.m. and fans can follow the action live at GoMatadors.com.
