California State University at Northridge
3-7
Portland State
3-6
CSUN Defeats Portland State, 77-71
12/17/2015 9:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PDF Box ScorePortland, OR – The CSUN Matadors (3-7) defeated the Portland State University Vikings (3-6), 77-71, on Thursday evening in the Peter W. Stott Center, snapping a five-game losing streak.
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Sophomore Micheal Warren led the Matadors with 15 points and sophomore Tavrion Dawson and senior Tre Hale-Edmerson each added 14, a season high for Hale-Edmerson. Junior transfer Kendall Smith, in his first game for the Matadors, scored a career-high-tying 13 points and senior Olalekan Ajayi had 10 rebounds and was a 3-pointer away from a double-double.
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With a season-high-tying nine rebounds on the night, Hale-Edmerson moved into ninth place all-time on the CSUN Top 10 list, as well up a spot on the all-time minutes played list. He now has 585 career rebounds, passing Todd Bowser, and 2,891 career minutes, bumping Rob Haynes down a spot to take over ninth place.
"I think we did a really good job in the second half of staying on the boards," said Head Coach Reggie Theus, adding that "this is the first game in a while that we got over 50 shots at the rim."
"It's a great road win and the thing that sticks out the most is that we got back to driving the basketball," Theus continued. "When you look at the team effort and the shot in the arm that Kendall gave us when he came in, the pace of the game stepped up. With his ability to get the ball to the basket, one extra body changed our entire rotation."Â
The Matadors led for most of the first half, at one point by as many as 13. A 3-pointer by Hale-Edmerson a minute and a half in put CSUN up 3-2 and they stayed on top through the four-minute mark. The Vikings came back strong in the final minutes and the two teams went to the locker room with CSUN trailing 36-40.
Dawson scored six points for the Matadors in the first half, as did Smith, who has now completed his academic year in residence as a transfer and came into the game midway through the first 20. The team grabbed a total of 14 boards, with four from Ajayi.
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Several key rebounds by Ajayi followed by the Matadors capitalizing on possessions kept CSUN with the lead through 7:25, 55-53.
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CSUN pulled up by 12 within the minute, with six of the Matadors' points coming from Warren, and the Matadors held onto their lead through the end.
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With 2:00 left on the clock, CSUN slowed things down and hit six free throws to stay on top. The Matadors finished the game shooting 53 percent and were 17-for-23 from the free throw line. CSUN out-rebounded Portland State 40 to 29.
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CSUN returns home to face the Bethesda Flames this Sunday, December 20 at 5:00 p.m. on The Blacktop @ The Matadome. Following that, the Matadors' next two games will be on the road at the University of San Diego (Wed., Dec. 23) and Idaho State (Tues. Dec. 29).
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