CSUN Pulls Out 70-65 Win at Cal State Fullerton

FULLERTON, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (6-9, 2-0 BWC) staged another second-half comeback, defeating Cal State Fullerton (7-8, 1-1 BWC), 70-65, on Saturday evening at Titan Gym. Off the bench, Micheal Warren scored a team-high 16 points and knocked down all four of his shots from 3-point land. Kendall Smith hit two key jumpers late in the second half and finished with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. Rakim Lubin also chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds while Darin Johnson scored 10 points.

"We got off to a little bit of a slow start but we had 16 deflections in the second half and [Cal State Fullerton] shot 37 percent from the field," said head coach Reggie Theus. "[Fullerton] is a team that's basically a plus five in rebounding and we beat them by five tonight. We did all the things that were necessary in the second half and down the stretch to win the game. I told them before the game, to win on the road it takes four things. It takes toughness, togetherness, execution and it takes defense. And at the bottom of that, I told them we needed to win the rebounding department. In all those areas, we did it perfectly."

Three nights removed from erasing a 13-point deficit to defeat UC Riverside, the Matadors would have to rally again on Saturday against Fullerton. Trailing by as many as nine points including seven at the half, CSUN outscored the Titans, 39-27, in the final 20:00 to move to 2-0 in Big West play for the first time in three seasons.

In a game featuring the top two scoring teams in the Big West, Fullerton shot 45.6 percent from the field compared to CSUN's 42.9 percent shooting. CSUN out-rebounded the leading rebounding team in the conference, 39-34 and also posted 15 assists to the Titans' nine. Fullerton held a 34-26 advantage in points in the paint but the Matadors registered a 15-9 edge in points off turnovers.

The Titans would jump out to the early lead with a quick start on the offensive end. Hitting seven of its first nine shots, Fullerton raced out to a 16-7 lead at the 14:41 mark. CSUN responded with a run of its own later in the half to pull closer as 3-pointers from Warren and Johnson along with a jumper from Smith capped off a 13-2 run to put the Matadors in front 29-27.

The end of the half though would belong to the Titans. With the game squared at 31-31, Fullerton scored seven unanswered points over the final 1:39 of the period to take a 38-31 lead into intermission.

Shooting just 35.7 percent in the first half, the Matadors came out hot in the second period. Lubin scored the team's first six points on a series of post moves near the basket to keep CSUN close. Trailing 45-40, the Matadors would continue to chip away as baskets from Tavrion Dawson and Dylan Johns along with a 3-pointer from Warren tied the game at 47-47.

Warren knocked down three of his four 3-pointers on the night in the second half including a trey that put CSUN ahead 50-49 at the 11:58 mark.

Finding success on the offensive end, the Matadors also exhibited tenacious defense in the second half. On a pivotal sequence, the TItans had a 53-52 lead and what appeared to be a slam dunk from Arkim Robertson but Dawson stuffed the Titan at the rim and secured the rebound. CSUN quickly went up the court and Smith found Warren on the fast break for a layup to put the Matadors back in front, 54-53.

Down the stretch, the Matadors would not relinquish the lead. Ahead 59-58, CSUN picked up four-straight points on a pair of Lubin free throws and a jumper from Smith. Key in the final minutes, Smith hit another mid-range shot and he later connected on a free throw with 26 seconds left that pushed the lead to 66-62.

On the ensuing possession, Lionheart Leslie drove to the basket, looking to cut the deficit in half but Smith blocked his attempt near the rim. Lubin picked up the loose ball and Johnson scored on the other end to push the lead to six. After Kyle Allman nailed a 3-pointer with two seconds left to trim the lead to 68-65, Aaron Parks was fouled and hit two free throws to seal the win.

Smith registered his 10th consecutive double-digit scoring performance on Saturday as he finished 6-of-9 from the floor. Johnson has the second-longest active double-digit scoring streak for the Matadors with seven.

Dawson finished with nine points along with seven rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes while fellow starter Parks scored six points, pulled down seven rebounds and registered three steals. Getting the start at center, Mahamadou Kaba-Camara secured three rebounds in three minutes of action.

Parks moved into fourth place in CSUN's all-time attempted free throws list after going 4-of-4 from the free throw line on Saturday. With 493 attempts, Parks has some work to do to catch up to Jeff Parris (1997-2001), who is in third place with 596 attempts.

CSUN continues Big West play next Wednesday at Long Beach State on Fox Sports West. Tip off is slated for 7:30 p.m.

CSUN Pulls Out 70-65 Win at Cal State Fullerton

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Team Stats

Micheal Warren

Kendall Smith

Rakim Lubin

Darin Johnson

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Dylan Johns

Darin Johnson

Mahamadou Kaba-Camara

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Micheal Warren