Matadors Drop Wooden Legacy Opener to Texas A&M

Thursday, November 24

Fullerton, CA

11:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

2-3

Texas A&M

3-1

Texas A&M

CSUN

Photo by: ESPN Events

Matadors Drop Wooden Legacy Opener to Texas A&M

11/24/2016 1:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FULLERTON, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (2-3) suffered a 95-73 loss to Texas A&M in the opener of the 2016 Wooden Legacy on Thursday afternoon at Titan Gym. Off the bench, guard Micheal Warren scored a team-leading 19 points to go along with three rebounds while forward Tavrion Dawson chipped in with 14 points and three rebounds of his own. Kendall Smith finished with seven points and four assists.

On a day where the Matadors faced early foul trouble and poor shooting, Texas A&M shot 53.1 percent from the field and knocked down six 3-pointers in the first half to take control of the contest.

"It's very difficult when you start a game and have a problem keeping your bigs on the floor," said head coach Reggie Theus. "The early foul trouble got us going in the wrong direction. They're size was a big factor throughout the game. They shot the ball well from every area, rebounded, and outplayed us in every area. I thought our guys fought hard for a while, but over the course of the first half, they had too much size and there were too many fouls for us."

The teams exchanged baskets at the outset before a 10-4 Aggie run capped off by a 3-pointer from DJ Hogg gave Texas A&M a 12-6 lead at the first media timeout.

Foul trouble became an issue in the first half after Rakim Lubin was whistled for two early fouls on consecutive possessions and Dylan Johns received his second personal foul with 15:41 on the clock.

The Matador bench entered the fray and kept the team within striking distance throughout most of the first period. Dawson scored 11 in the first half on 5-of-9 shooting in 17 minutes to lead CSUN.

The teams went back-and-forth in the early part of the first half. Texas A&M opened up an early 14-6 lead before five-straight points including a 3-pointer from Darin Johnson cut the lead to three.

With each team exchanging baskets, the Aggies led 24-17 before a sudden surge from the Matadors cut the deficit to two. A 3-point shot from Dawson and two-straight made free throws by Warren pulled CSUN to within 26-24 with 7:51 left before halftime.

The Aggies would respond swiftly. A 10-4 run gave Texas A&M its first double-digit lead at 36-26 following a 3-pointer from JC Hampton.

From beyond the arc, Hampton hit 3-of-5 from downtown in the period for a nine-point first half. Admon Gilder scored 11 points to lead Texas A&M in the opening stanza on 5-of-8 shooting.

A Robert Williams jumper with five seconds on the clock capped off a huge 27-4 run that gave the Aggies a 53-28 lead at the break.

After intermission, the Matadors were led by Warren offensively. The junior guard scored 15 points in the period on 5-of-8 shooting and 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Jerron Wilbut scored all seven of his points in the second half to go along with three rebounds.

The Matadors though would be unable to make up much ground on the scoreboard as the Aggies continued to find success on the offensive end. Limited to just six minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Hogg scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second period as he finished 9-of-12 from the floor.

CSUN trailed by as many as 32 points in the second half but did end the contest with a 12-4 run following a 3-pointer from Wilbut in the final minute.

Johns finished with four points and two assists before fouling out in the second half while Lubin scored four points in 12 minutes.

Despite the setback, senior guard Aaron Parks climbed into the Matadors' all-time Top 10 list in free throws made. Going 6-for-7 from the line, Parks moved into eighth place with 331 made in his career. He is one made free throw away from tying Jim Malkin (1959-62) for seventh place on the school's all-time list.

CSUN will return to the Wooden Legacy tomorrow afternoon for a meeting with New Mexico at noon on ESPNU.