Matadors Host Cal Poly on ESPN3, Close Out Week at UC Santa Barbara

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (6-12, 1-3 BWC) continues Big West Conference play with a Thursday night game against the Cal Poly Mustangs on the Blacktop @ The Matadome at 7 p.m. and the Matadors conclude the week with a Saturday afternoon matchup at UC Santa Barbara at 4 p.m. CSUN's contest with Cal Poly will be broadcasted on ESPN3 and live audio will be available for both games on the CSUN Sports Network with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

Last week, the Matadors competed in a pair of close games that each went down to the wire. Despite leading for nearly the entire contest, a late 3-point buzzer beater propelled UC Davis to a 63-62 win over CSUN last Thursday. Against UC Riverside on Saturday night, the Matadors' rallied from 10 points down in the second half to take a lead late but ultimately fell short in the final minute, losing 75-72.

Sophomore Micheal Warren scored 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting to lead the Matadors at UC Davis including a late jumper with 00:11 left to play. In his second game of the season, junior Aaron Parks finished with 13 points against the Aggies and Tavrion Dawson added 10 points off the bench.

After falling behind by five at the half including by double digits in the second half against UC Riverside, the Matadors rallied with strong shooting down the stretch. Junior Kendall Smith scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the second period while Tre Hale-Edmerson scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the contest. Junior Jerron Wilbut added 11 points off the bench including going 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc in the final minutes.

Hale-Edmerson continued to move up the CSUN record books after a week's worth of competition. The senior forward compiled 12 rebounds last week to move into sole possession of seventh place on CSUN's all-time rebounds list with 641 in his career. He also started both games to give him 112 in his CSUN career, moving him to second all-time in school history. Hale-Edmerson is now six starts away from the most starts in the history of the program. The school's all-time block leader is now seventh in minutes played with 3,137 and he is in ninth place for career games played with 117. With eight more assists, Hale-Edmerson will also move into the school's Top 10 for career assists. He currently has 262 assists in his career.

The Mustangs hold a 51-45 edge in the all-time series with CSUN and have earned victories in four of the last five meetings. The Matadors split the season series with the Mustangs last season with each team posting wins on their respective home floors as CSUN earned a 55-48 win at The Matadome last January. UC Santa Barbara has taken 34 of 52 all-time meetings against CSUN but the Matadors have won two of the last three games. Each team earned victories on the opposing team's home court last season and the Matadors have won three-straight games overall at UCSB.

A Closer Look at Cal Poly
The Mustangs are 7-9 this season and hold a 1-2 mark in Big West Conference play. Away from Mott Athletics Center, the Mustangs are 1-7 thus far this season. Last week, Cal Poly split its conference games at home including falling 76-73 against UCSB on Thursday before earning a 96-92 double overtime win against Long Beach State two days later.

Senior David Nwaba leads the Mustangs in several categories including scoring (11.4), rebounding (6.3), assists (4.5) and steals (1.6). Fellow seniors Reese Morgan and Joel Awich are both averaging 10.4 points per game this season. Morgan is shooting 43.7 percent from downtown (38-for-87) and Awich is posting 4.9 rebounds per game.

A Closer Look at UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos are 1-2 in Big West play and 7-9 overall on the year. UCSB is 1-3 in games played at the Thunderdome this season. In last week's Big West action, UC Santa Barbara earned a 76-73 win at Cal Poly on Thursday but fell to UC Irvine 61-52 at home on Saturday night. Before hosting the Matadors, UCSB will face Long Beach State on Wednesday.

Senior guard Michael Bryson is the conference's top scorer, averaging 18.7 points while also leading the Gauchos in rebounding with 6.0 per game. Sophomore Gabe Vincent is second on the team in points, averaging 13.6, and senior John Green is scoring 11.7 points while also posting 5.7 rebounds.

Matadors Host Cal Poly on ESPN3, Close Out Week at UC Santa Barbara

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Tre Hale-Edmerson

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Micheal Warren

Jerron Wilbut