Matadors Give Conference-Leading Hawai'i a Fight, but Fall 63-69

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Northridge, CA - The CSUN Matadors (9-17, 4-8 BWC) lost a close one to the Big West Conference-leading University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors (21-3, 10-1 BWC) on Thursday night on The Blacktop @ The Matadome, 63-69. The Matadors gave the Rainbow Warriors a run for their money, keeping the game tight throughout and making a push at the end, and fell just short.

Junior Kendall Smith, playing against his brother Quincy on the opposing team, led the Matadors in scoring with 13 points. Junior Aaron Parks scored 12 and sophomore Zacarry Douglas played a pivotal role off the bench, scoring eight to go with eight rebounds.

With six points and a start tonight, Hale-Edmerson moved up to tie for first place on the all-time CSUN games played list. He is also now just four away from 700 rebounds for his career.

"You look at the box score and pretty much in every category except for one or two, we either tied or were ahead," said Head Coach Reggie Theus. "It was a tough loss for us…I thought overall that we played well enough to win this basketball game."

It was a tightly-contested first half, with the Rainbow Warriors barely holding onto the edge. Hawai'i only led by as much as eight at the very end of the half and the game was more often separated by a handful of points. Sophomore Tavrion Dawson led the team through the first half with eight points and Smith and Parks had six apiece.

The second half started off the same way, until the Rainbow Warriors crept slightly ahead at about the midway point. However, the Matadors would fight back and a steal and layup by sophomore Micheal Warren put the game within a basket, 40-43, with 10:40 to play.

Moments later, two Smith layups led to CSUN's first lead of the game, 46-45, with nine minutes left on the clock. The Matadors maintained that lead through the 6:00 mark and then kept it close through the end. Sophomore Jerron Wilbut gave CSUN the advantage of one point after two free throws at the minute mark, but Hawai'i regained its momentum and took a six-point lead into the final six seconds of the game.

The Matadors beat Hawai'i in the paint (36 to 30), off turnovers (14 to 9) and on fast break points (12 to 4). However, they shot 40 percent compared to 47 pecent and were 1-for-14 on 3-pointers for the night.

For Hawai'i, Sfefan Jankovic led the team with 34 points, with no other Rainbow Warrior scoring in double figures. Mike Thomas led Hawai'I in rebounds with 11 and Quincy Smith added eight points and three rebounds.

The Matadors travel to Cal Poly for a game at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday before returning home to The Matadome for their penultimate home game against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Prime Ticket on It's On Us T-shirt Night.

Matadors Give Conference-Leading Hawai'i a Fight, but Fall 63-69

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Team Stats

Kendall Smith

Aaron Parks

Zacarry Douglas

Tavrion Dawson

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Zacarry Douglas

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Micheal Warren

Jerron Wilbut