Matadors Topple Titans, 75-67

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Los Angeles, CA – The CSUN Matadors (9-15, 4-6 BWC) were victorious over the Cal State Fullerton Titans (9-14, 2-8 BWC), 75-67, on Wednesday night on The Blacktop @ The Matadome. It was a hard-fought game for CSUN, who took advantage of a 15-0 run midway through the second half and rode the momentum to the win. The Matadors completed the sweep over Cal State Fullerton on the season, the first time CSUN has swept a season series since 2011.

Four Matadors scored in double figures, with junior Kendall Smith leading the charge scoring 18 points. Senior Tre Hale-Edmerson scored a season-high 15 and junior Aaron Parks and sophomore Jerron Wilbut each added 14. Senior Olalekan Ajayi had 10 rebounds and Smith added a career-high nine.

"You have to learn how to win when things aren't going your way and it seemed like tonight, we were kind of stuck in the mud for a while in the first half, but the guys game together," said Head Coach Reggie Theus. "The defense was really strong and AP's energy was fantastic tonight, [it was] one of the main factors in why we won the game."

Theus continued, "when you look at it and you assess it statistically, everybody did their job, and that's why you end up winning the basketball game."

The Matadors contested yet another close game, with the first half split between CSUN and the Titans. CSUN was within a few baskets for most of the half and leading for a quarter of the time. They would have gone to the locker room down by four except for a last-minute free throw by Cal State Fullerton that made it 28-33 at the half. Smith scored nine points in the first 20 minutes to go with five rebounds. Defensively, Hale-Edmerson had two blocks.

CSUN came out of the second half and immediately tied it up at 33 before the Titans climbed ahead. The Matadors started a comeback with about 10 minutes to play, and baskets by Hale-Edmerson and Wilbut and key free throws by Smith pulled CSUN to within a point.

The game held there for over a minute, until Parks hit a long jumper to put CSUN on top for the first time in the second half. Wilbut followed up with two free throws and a layup a minute later to put the Matadors up 59-53. The momentum stayed with the Matadors, forcing Cal State Fullerton to call a timeout trailing by eight points, their largest deficit of the night up until that point. The Matadors' 15-point run, which included seven points by Wilbut, was finally stopped by the Titans with just under three minutes to play. Cal State Fullerton could not muster a comeback from there.

The Matadors improved their shooting percentage from 33 percent in the first half to 50 percent in the second half and ended up shooting even with the Titans at 41 percent. CSUN was 25-for-35 at the free throw line, with Smith making 13-of-14 and only missing one down the stretch. The Matadors also improved to score a total of 24 points in the paint after only managing eight in the first half.

Tonight, Hale-Edmerson moved into sole possession of first place on the all-time CSUN games started list and into sole possession of second place on the all-time games played list.

For the Titans, guard Lionheart Leslie scored 14 points, while Tre' Coggins was held to only six by the Matadors' tough defense. Forward Jamar Akoh led the team in rebounds with 11, notching a double-double.

Next up for the Matadors is a trip to Orange County to play the UC Irvine Anteaters this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CSUN returns to The Matadome on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. for a matchup against Hawai'i on Blackout T-shirt Night.

Matadors Topple Titans, 75-67

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Team Stats

Kendall Smith

Tre Hale-Edmerson

Aaron Parks

Jerron Wilbut

Players Mentioned

Olalekan Ajayi

Tre Hale-Edmerson

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Jerron Wilbut