Matadors Drop Decision at Eastern Washington

Sunday, December 17

Cheney, WA

1:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

1-9

Eastern Washington

4-8

CSUN

Eastern Washington

Matadors Drop Decision at Eastern Washington

12/17/2017 3:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHENEY, Wash.---CSUN Men's Basketball fell 86-58 to Eastern Washington on Sunday afternoon at Reese Court. Tavrion Dawson collected a team-high 16 points to go with five rebounds while Terrell Gomez tallied 10 points and three steals. Reggie Theus Jr. fell just short of a double-double as he posted nine points and a career-high nine rebounds.

"We started the game off by missing five shots around the basket and three to five free throws," said head coach Reggie Theus. "The most concerning part of today is that we go 13-for-25 from the free throw line. You have to be a better free throw shooting team. It's across the board. When it's all said and done, I challenge the guys to step up. We can talk about what we don't have, in the end we got 58 shots up and we make 21.

"I put the bench in there in the second half and I thought they played with a lot of energy," continued Theus. "They got scored on but they still played very hard."

After a poor shooting first half (25.0 percent), the Matadors shot 46.7 percent in the second half for a 36.2 clip for the game. In contrast, the Eagles shot 51.6 percent from the field including 50.0 percent (11-for-22) from the 3-point line. EWU also outscored the Matadors 36-26 in points in the paint while the Matadors registered a 11-3 edge in fastbreak points.

CSUN came out of the blocks hitting four of its first seven shots but EWU led throughout the early going. Dawson scored six of his team's first eight points and he brought the Matadors within 10-8 on a layup.

However, CSUN would hit a rough patch for a crucial seven-minute span in the opening half, giving EWU an opportunity to build a lead. CSUN went without a field goal over that period as the Eagles went on a 12-3 run to take a 22-11 lead.

After drawing two early fouls, Micheal Warren re-entered the game and promptly ended the drought with a driving layup off a feed from Lyrik Shreiner at the 8:02 mark. Gomez later kept the Matadors within striking distance with a long 2-pointer to cut the deficit to 26-15.

The Eagles though would not let the Matadors creep closer in the half as balanced scoring kept the home team in front. Five different Eagles scored six or more points in the period to help Eastern Washington take a 39-22 lead at intermission.

Following the rough half, the Matadors would hit six-straight shots early on in the second half. Gomez hit a 3-pointer in the opening minute and his assist to Dawson later cut the deficit to 44-28. Shreiner drove to the hole past a couple of Eagle defenders at the 16:52 mark and a Gomez steal led to a Warren layup.

Off the bench, Theus Jr. posted eight of his nine points in the second half and he grabbed eight boards including four on the offensive end. Theus Jr.'s jumpshot at the 15:38 mark brought CSUN within 51-36.

Despite the success on the offensive end, CSUN could not draw closer than 15 points in the second half. After a Carl Brown layup at the 12:30 mark, the Eagles put together a 15-4 run to extend to a 71-45 advantage. EWU led by as many as 28 points as it held off the Matadors for the 86-58 victory.

Bogdan Bliznyuk led all Eagles with 16 points to go with 11 rebounds and seven assists. Four other Eagles also scored in double figures including Jesse Hunt who collected 14 points and eight rebounds.

CSUN finishes off the non-conference road schedule on Tuesday evening against Sacramento State at 7 p.m.