Matadors Suffer 105-73 Defeat to UC Irvine

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (7-12, 3-3 BWC) dropped a 105-73 decision to UC Irvine (13-9, 6-0 BWC) on Saturday evening at The Matadome. Rakim Lubin and Kendall Smith each scored 13 points to lead CSUN while Tavrion Dawson posted 12 points and Darin Johnson chipped in with 10.

Suffering from cold shooting all evening, the Matadors trailed from start-to-finish on Saturday. The Matadors finished shooting a season-low 30.3 percent from the field including 28.1 percent in the first half. In contrast, UC Irvine shot 53.6 percent from the field and 57.1 percent (12-for-21) from beyond the 3-point arc. The Anteaters also out-rebounded the Matadors, 54-31, for the game. CSUN, however, tied a season-high for free throw attempts with 40, knocking down a season-best 30.

"Hubie Brown said in an NBA season, there's probably three or four games you play that after the game you walk away, accept what happen and get ready for the next game. In college there's probably one or two; this is one of them. You have to give [UC Irvine] a lot of credit because they came in and they really just punched us in the face. I thought that our guys in the beginning of the game, backed up and took a step backwards. But if [we] came out in the first half with the same attitude that [we] had in the second half, it's a different ball game."

UC Irvine jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Saturday. Converting on their first seven possessions, the Anteaters build a 15-5 lead at the first media timeout.

After missing nine of their first 10 shots, the Matadors fought back to stay within striking distance early on in the first half. Consecutive jumpers from Lubin and Aaron Parks trimmed the UCI advantage to 22-13 at the 12:11 mark of the first half.

The Anteaters, however, would respond with lights out shooting for the remainder of the period. Knocking down nine first half 3-pointers, including five from Max Hazzard, UCI stretched its lead to as big as 29 (56-37) with 1:37 on the clock. Hazzard scored 19 of his 22 points in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting to help the Anteaters take a 58-30 lead into halftime.

Looking up at a sizable deficit, the Matadors continued to battle in the second half. Trailing 65-34, the Matadors went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 67-47 at the 11:41 mark.

CSUN forced the Anteaters to commit 10 turnovers in the second half after the visitors only had two in the opening half. Along with feisty defense, the Matadors also earned their way to the foul line with regularity in the second half, going 21-for-26 in the period.

Despite the Matadors' stronger play in the second half, a comeback would not be in the cards on Saturday as the Anteaters outscored CSUN 47-43 in the period to post the 33-point victory.

After playing seven minutes and scoring two points in the first half, Lubin tallied 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the second half. He also added four rebounds, a block and a steal in 21 minutes of action.

Smith pushed his double-digit scoring streak to 14 consecutive games after a 13-point effort. Despite an off night from the field (2-of-13), Smith went 8-of-10 from the free throw line and finished with seven assists and five rebounds.

Competing in his 100th career game, Parks scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds, tallied two steals and dished out two assists. Parks moved to within 23 points of reaching 1,000 points for his collegiate career.

For the Anteaters, Jaron Martin led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting while Ioannis Dimakopoulos added 19 points.

CSUN returns to the road to face UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday evening. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m.

Matadors Suffer 105-73 Defeat to UC Irvine

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Team Stats

Rakim Lubin

Kendall Smith

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith