Matadors Pull Away from UCSB with Second Half Surge

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SANTA BARBARA, CA---

Behind stellar shooting and a strong second half, CSUN Men's Basketball (8-12, 4-3 BWC) defeated UC Santa Barbara, 78-57, on Wednesday evening at the Thunderdome. Five Matadors scored in double figures, led by sophomore Rakim Lubin who posted a career-high 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Micheal Warren chipped in with 13 points off the bench while both Kendall Smith and Darin Johnson had 12 apiece. With an 11 point, 13 rebound effort, Tavrion Dawson recorded his fourth career double-double and second of the season in the victory.

Four days removed from its worst shooting night of the season against UC Irvine, CSUN enjoyed its best shooting night of the season on Wednesday. The Matadors shot a red-hot 61.2 percent from the field including 65.4 percent in the second half to blow open a four-point game at halftime. In contrast, CSUN held the Gauchos to 35.8 percent shooting for the game and just 31.4 percent in the second half. CSUN also out-rebounded UCSB, 40-32, and knocked down 14-of-20 free throws (70.0 percent) compared to the Gauchos' 4-of-10 (40.0 percent).

"I thought that this was the first time this year that we played pretty solid from start-to-finish," said head coach Reggie Theus. "We had 22 assists on 49 shots, which is really good. We had three guys with six assists, which is excellent. I thought they stayed with the game plan and really guarded tonight. We held them to 35 percent overall and 23 percent from 3-point. In the end, we got to the line on the road, we had 22 assists, and only took 49 shots, but over the course of the game we took really only two bad shots for the night. That's why we ended up shooting above 60 percent for the night."

In the first half, UCSB built an early lead due in large part to 12 CSUN turnovers leading to 14 Gaucho points. UCSB build a seven point lead in the half, its biggest of the night, following a layup by Alex Hart at the 5:36 mark of the period.

The Matadors would respond, however, with a flurry to end the half. Five straight points from Lubin followed by four more from Johnson brought CSUN to within 26-25. Shortly thereafter, following a missed UCSB shot, the Matadors took the lead on a 3-pointer from Warren.

Reggie Theus Jr., Johnson and Smith each added jumpers down the stretch to extend the lead to 36-29 before a 3-pointer from Gabe Vincent trimmed the lead to 36-32 going into halftime. Over the final 4:11 of the half, the Matadors outscored UCSB 15-6 with Johnson contributing to eight of the points.

The Matador run would continue on into the second half. Another 12-6 spurt capped off by another 3-pointer by Warren pushed the lead to double-digits at 48-38. Leading the charge offensively, Lubin scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half as he converted on all three of his shots and hit 4-of-5 from the free throw line.

Behind Vincent's 16 points and Max Heidegger's 12, the Gauchos remained with striking distance through the midway portion of the second half. The Matadors led 60-50 after a Heidegger layup but another CSUN run would put the game out reach down the stretch.

A 10-2 run over a 2:14 span quickly pushed the lead to 70-52. Smith punctuated the run with a steal and a layup down the other way. Moments later, the Matadors' lead increased to 78-54 after a layup from Warren at the 2:08 mark. In all, the Matadors outscored UCSB, 18-7 over the final 6:45 to seal the victory.

With his 12 points, Smith extended his double-digit scoring to 15 consecutive games. He also finished 6-of-10 from the floor and racked up six assists and five rebounds.

Senior guard Aaron Parks tied a career high with six assists to go along with eight points and four rebounds. Parks moved to within 15 points of reaching 1,000 points in his Matador career.

Setting a career high in points, Lubin also set a new career best in free throws made with seven. Over the last two games, Lubin has averaged 15.0 points and has shot 11-of-16 from the floor.

On an efficient night from the floor, Warren went 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point land. He also added three rebounds and assist in 21 minutes.

The Matadors conclude a two-game road trip on Saturday evening at UC Riverside. Tip off is slated for 5 p.m.

Matadors Pull Away from UCSB with Second Half Surge

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Team Stats

Rakim Lubin

Micheal Warren

Kendall Smith

Darin Johnson

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Reggie Theus Jr.

Micheal Warren