California State University at Northridge
Loyola Marymount
CSUN Returns Home to Face Loyola Marymount
12/9/2016 10:01:00 AM | Men's Basketball
En Español
NORTHRIDGE, CA---
CSUN Men's Basketball returns home to begin a stretch where four of the next five games will be played inside the friendly confines of the The Matadome. Kicking off the home heavy portion of the schedule, the Matadors host Loyola Marymount on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. A live video stream on the CSUN Sports Network via Big West.TV will be available with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.Â
The Matadors are coming off playing two games in three days as CSUN earned a thrilling 79-76 win over Idaho State on Saturday before falling at St. John's, 76-70, two nights later in a back-and-forth contest.Â
Hosting the Bengals, CSUN rallied from a 13-point, second-half deficit to post the three-point win. The CSUN offense came alive when they needed it the most, as the Matadors took a late lead on a layup from Tavrion Dawson. After ISU's Geno Luzcando buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 76-76 with eight seconds left, Kendall Smith led the offense the other way and found Dawson for a 3-pointer to win the game as time expired. Dawson's game winner capped off a monster night as he scored a career-high 28 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Smith also chipped in with 18 points while Rakim Lubin provided a spark off the bench with 14 points.Â
Having little time to celebrate, CSUNÂ traveled across the country overnight to prepare to meet St. John's in Queens, NY on Monday. The matchup between the two would be a seesaw affair that featured 15 lead changes and seven ties. The Red Storm possessed a five-point lead at the half but CSUNÂ marched back to take a 62-61 lead with less than seven minutes to go. However, St. John's would prevail down the stretch despite 16 points from Darin Johnson and 13 from Lubin.Â
For his efforts against Idaho State, Dawson was named Big West Player of the Week on Monday. On the season, he is tied with Smith for the team-lead in scoring with 14.8 points per game. Building off a sophomore season when he scored 9.9 points, Dawson has scored in double figures in seven of nine games this season. The Long Beach native is also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game and has been tremendous at the free throw line, converting on 33 of 38 attempts (86.8 percent).Â
The Matador offense has been the team's strength so far this season as the team ranks first in the Big West Conference in points per game (80.6), field goal percentage (47.3) and free throw percentage (72.3). Along with Dawson and Smith, both Aaron Parks (12.8) and Johnson (11.7) are averaging points in double figures this season. Junior center Dylan Johns is shooting over 61 percent from the field this season while Dawson is shooting 58.0 percent and Lubin is connecting on 55.4 percent of his attempts. From downtown, Johnson is shooting a team-best 57.1 percent from 3-point range.Â
Leading the team in rebounding, Lubin is grabbing 5.7 boards and Dawson is second with his 5.1 per game. Smith is tops on the team in assists with 4.8 while Parks is dishing out 2.8.Â
Following the matchup with the Lions on Saturday, CSUNÂ concludes a two-game homestand with Bethesda on Friday, Dec. 16. The Matadors hit the road for the final time in con-conference play against Boise State on Dec. 21Â before returning back to the The Matadome to take on Morgan State on Dec. 29Â to finish off the 2016 calendar year. CSUNÂ plays its fourth home contest in five games against UC Riverside on Jan. 4 to open up Big West play.Â
CSUN and Loyola Marymount have met a total of 18 times with the Lions holding a 11-7 series advantage. The Matadors, however, are 6-4 all-time at home in the series including posting a five-game winning streak dating back to 1992. CSUN last played LMU at The Matadome in December 2002 with the Matadors earning a 74-71 victory in the contest. Loyola Marymount has not won at CSUN since December 1976. After a 12-year gap, the two teams met last season at LMU with the Lions edging the Matadors, 82-80, in overtime. In defeat, Micheal Warren led CSUN in scoring with 23 points and he finished 12-of-12 from the free throw line against the Lions.Â
A Closer Look at Loyola Marymount
The Lions enter the matchup with a 3-3 overall record after an 85-78 win over Southern Utah on Thursday. Playing five of six games at home, LMU has not played a road game since a Nov. 14 loss to Nevada. The team finished a four-game homestand on Thursday going 2-2 after posting wins over Portland State and Southern Utah and a pair of narrow losses to Boise State and Connecticut. Last season, LMU went 14-17 overall and 6-12 in the West Coast for a seventh-place finish in the conference.Â
LMU brings with them the West Coast Conference's leading three-point defense that has limited opponents to 26.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Overall, the team has allowed the opposition to score 67.5 points per game. On the offensive side, Loyola Marymount features six players averaging over eight points per game with senior Brandon Brown leading the team with 14.7 points to go along with 5.3 assists. Brown scored a career-best 26 points against Southern Utah. Senior Buay Tuach is also scoring in double figures with his 11.5 points on 50.0 percent shooting (26-for-52) from the floor. Another senior, Shamar Johnson leads the team in rebounding with 5.7 while he is scoring 8.3 a game.Â
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