Matadors Open Season with Victory Over Life Pacific

Friday, November 10

Northridge, CA

7:30 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

1-0

Life Pacific

3-1

Life Pacific

CSUN

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

Matadors Open Season with Victory Over Life Pacific

11/10/2017 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA---CSUN Men's Basketball (1-0) led from start-to-finish in its season-opening 76-50 victory over Life Pacific on Friday evening at The Matadome. Five Matadors scored in double figures led by freshman Terrell Gomez who scored 15 points and dished out five assists. Seniors Tavrion Dawson and Micheal Warren had 14 and 13 points respectively while newcomers Lyrik Shreiner (11 points and nine rebounds) and Zeno Lake (10 points and nine rebounds) nearly had double-doubles in their CSUN debuts. CSUN's victory extended its season-opening home winning streak to 15 games.

"It's a good opening win for us," said head coach Reggie Theus. "I really enjoy coaching this team. Their young but they really want to learn. They're sponges. Tonight, was a team that really wanted to play for each other, and I think that's important."

CSUN finished shooting 46.4 percent from the floor including 45.0 percent (9-for-20) from beyond the 3-point arc. The Matadors out-rebounded the Warriors 50-31 and registered a 15-9 edge in assists. CSUN scored 13 second-chance points on the night and picked up 19 points off its bench.

At the outset, the Matadors jumped on the Warriors, scoring the game's first six points. After Life Pacific pulled to within 10-6, the Matadors went on a 10-0 run capped off a 3-pointer from Warren in transition. The Matadors were steadied by their backcourt as Gomez scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half while Warren registered eight points and five rebounds.

The Warriors would make a run however, pulling to within 24-23 after back-to-back buckets from James Noble. Jonathan Cortez managed the middle most of the first half, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds to keep Life Pacific within striking distance.

Ahead 32-27 with less than a minute to play, the Matadors scored the final five points including three-straight free throws from Carl Brown to go into intermission leading 37-27.

The Matadors maintained their momentum in the second half, scoring the first five points to push the lead to 42-27. Cortez later brought the Warriors to within seven (42-35), but Shreiner knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 10. CSUN would hold a double-digit lead for the final 12:55 after a Dawson layup.

Four-straight free throws from Lake extended the Matador lead and a Warren 3-pointer later made it a 54-39 game. Anthony Swan nailed a 3-point shot at the 3:57 mark of the game that gave CSUN a 20-point edge (64-44).

Following a 10-2 run, punctuated by another Swan 3-pointer, the Matadors led by their biggest margin of 27 points in the final seconds. The Matadors outscored the Warriors 39-23 in the second half and shot 48.1 percent from the floor.

Nine different Matadors scored in the ballgame while 13 players saw action. In total, eight of the 13 players made their CSUN debuts on Friday. Making their first appearance in a Matador uniform, Brown scored five points while Swan had six and Jalon Pipkins collected two. Alex Sokol and Jonathan Guevara also gained playing time for the first time with CSUN.

Cortez led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds.

CSUN plays their next seven games away from The Matadome starting with a Monday matchup at Fresno State. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.