California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
9-23, 4-12
Long Beach State
15-16, 9-6
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSUN | 25 | 33 | 58 |
| Long Beach State | 30 | 39 | 69 |
Matadors Lose at Long Beach State, Set Up Date With UC Davis in Tournament
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
En Español
LONG BEACH, Calif. -
Three CSUN players finished in double figures on the night but the CSUN Matadors (9-23, 4-12 Big West) were defeated 69-58 by the Long Beach State 49ers (15-16, 9-6 Big West) on Thursday at Walter Pyramid. Stephen Maxwell recorded his 42nd career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Devonte Elliott added 14 points and Aaron Parks finished with 11.
"It's important for us, every time we step out onto the floor, to have a mindset to play hard," said CSUN head coach Reggie Theus. "I think the mindset coming into this game was very good. We had a four-point game, a six-point game. We missed nine free throws tonight, which is uncharacteristic of us."
Senior guard Stephan Hicks did not play in order to rest ahead of next week's Big West Tournament, where the eighth-seeded Matadors will take on the top-seeded UC Davis Aggies on Thursday, March 12.
"Hicks banged his knee in one of our games. He is pretty sore and kind of weak. Could he have played? Probably," said Theus. "But what does that mean for us when the conference tournament starts? It is better to have him 100 percent than to have him 75-80 percent."
The teams played back-and-forth throughout the first half, with the slight edge going to the 49ers at the break. After Long Beach State took a 5-2 lead early on in the contest, the Matadors held the opposition scoreless for over three minutes but were only able to tie the score in that time frame.
The 49ers built an eight-point lead, 20-12, with 8:51 to play in the half before a 3-pointer by Ajon Efferson and an old-fashioned three-point play helped the Matadors bring the score to 30-25 going into the locker room.
Long Beach State outscored CSUN 39-33 in the second half, but the Matadors beat the 49ers 10-0 in second-chance points and 6-2 off of turnovers. A six-point game with four minutes to go broke open thanks in large part to the 49ers shooting 60 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes.
The Matadors shot 20-for-53 (37.7 percent) from the field and just 13-for-21 (61.9 percent) from the free-throw line. In contrast, Long Beach State went 8-for-9 from the line and shot 48 percent from the floor.
Landon Drew had six points, two rebounds and four assists in the game and Efferson finished with eight points in 28 minutes off the bench.
David Samuels ended the contest with a game-high 19 points and had 11 rebounds to go along with four blocks.
The Matadors conclude the regular season as the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament and will face the UC Davis Aggies for the third time this year. The Aggies are currently 23-5 overall and 13-2 in the Big West and will host UC Irvine to close out the regular season on Saturday, March 7.
Tipoff time for the Big West Tournament Quarterfinals has not been determined, but the Matadors and Aggies will play at either 12 p.m. or approximately 2:30 p.m. at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on March 12th. The game can be seen live on FOX Sports West Prime Ticket and fans can purchase single-session tickets from the Honda Center box office on the day of the game.
