Matadors Drop Cancun Challenge Contest to Southeast Missouri

CANCUN---CSUN Men's Basketball fell to Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) 74-59 in Mexico on Tuesday afternoon at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. Lyrik Shreiner finished with 14 points, five rebounds and two steals while Micheal Warren just missed a double-double as he posted 14 points and nine rebounds. After leading for most of the first half, the Matadors went cold from the field, giving the Redhawks an opportunity to build a lead and take control of the contest.

In the game, the Matadors shot a season-low 33.9 percent from floor while SEMO capitalized from 53.6 shooting in the second half to finish with a 45.9 percentage. CSUN also shot just 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc compared to the Redhawks who hit 10-of-24 3-pointers (41.7 percent). SEMO also out-rebounded the Matadors 39-36 and posted a 28-22 edge in points in the paint.

The Matadors came out of the blocks fast as they raced out to a 7-1 lead after five-straight points from Warren. Terrell Gomez would knock down a 3-pointer at the 15:45 mark to put CSUN up 10-4 in the early going. Warren scored eight points in the first half to lead the Matadors. CSUN led by as many as eight points in the period after a Zeno Lake offensive rebound and put back made it a 20-12 game.

CSUN later led 22-19 after Tavrion Dawson, who came off the bench Tuesday, hit a jumper at the 8:36 mark. From there, the Matadors would struggle from the field for the remainder of the period as SEMO began to close the gap.

Capitalizing on a Matador scoreless string that lasted over three minutes, the Redhawks went on a 9-0 run capped off by a layup from Denzel Mahoney to take a 28-22 advantage.

Both teams struggled from poor shooting in the first half as neither side shot over 40.0 percent. During the Matadors' scoreless drought, SEMO went without a point for over two full minutes as the scored remained 28-22 at the 5:10 mark of the period.

Reggie Theus Jr. later brought the Matadors closer with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 31-28 but the Matadors would not catch the Redhawks in the half. SEMO closed on an 8-3 run to take a 39-28 into intermission. In the half, the Redhawks hit 7-of-15 from the 3-point arc but only finished shooting 39.4 percent from the floor (13-for-33).

SEMO continued to apply the pressure offensively, building a 45-30 lead after a jumper from Ray Kowalski. The Matadors would continue to fight through their shooting struggles as Theus Jr. hit a jumper and Warren scored inside to pull CSUN within 11.

Theus Jr. would make it a 55-45 game later in the half on a mid-range jumper at the 10:40 mark. However, SEMO would answer five-straight CSUN points with seven points of its own as Mark Laros' layup pushed the lead to 62-45.

SEMO would lead as much as 22 points (74-52) in the second period as the Matadors would drop their third-straight Cancun Challenge game.

"Well, we were shorthanded today, so we didn't have the type of substitution patterns that we normally have," said head coach Reggie Theus about the loss. "When you look at TD's (Dawson) numbers, his minutes, he didn't start because he violated team rules along with a couple other guys. We have a young team and we have to make sure that the guys respect the program.

"Today was really tough because I thought we were better than this team. It's a lesson the guys have to learn," continued Theus.

For the Matadors, Lake finished with eight points and seven rebounds while Theus Jr. had seven points and three rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes. Off the bench, Jalon Pipkins registered eight points.

With today's results, the Matadors will take on Binghamton in a Mayan Division third-place game on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. (PT). Ghizal Hazan will call all the action from Cancun in an audio only broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health.

Matadors Drop Cancun Challenge Contest to Southeast Missouri

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Zeno Lake

Jalon Pipkins

Lyrik Shreiner

Reggie Theus Jr.

Micheal Warren

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