Matadors Visit Idaho State in Last Road Stop

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball concludes its road trip on Wednesday evening against Idaho State at 6 p.m. (PT). The non-conference contest will be streamed live on WatchBigSky.com and an audio only broadcast will be available on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

The Matadors dropped their sixth-straight game on Sunday at Montana, 86-68. Seniors Tavrion Dawson and Micheal Warren tied for the team lead with 14 points apiece while Lyrik Shreiner added 12 points. After shooting above 60 percent in the first half, second-half struggles from the field coupled with 16 turnovers in the contest proved to be too much to overcome for the Matadors.

CSUN battled Montana step-for-step throughout the entire first half as each team enjoyed five different leads. Trailing by five at the half, the Matadors closed to within two points on three occasions but were unable to take the lead in the second period. The Grizzlies were able to seize control down the stretch, outscoring the Matadors 32-18 over the last 13 minutes.

On Wednesday, the Matadors will close their longest stretch of games played away from home in 13 seasons. During the seven-game trip, the Matadors have visited Fresno, Fairfax, Va., Cancun, Mexico for a pair of games, Berkeley, Missoula, Mo. and finally Pocatello, Idaho. After CSUN returns from Pocatello on Thursday morning, the Matadors would have amassed over 12,400 miles of travel to complete the road trip. Including heading out of the country for the first time in program history, the Matadors have met three teams (George Mason, Southeast Missouri State and Binghamton) for the first time ever.

In the Big West Top 10, Dawson is sixth in the conference in scoring with 15.4 points per game. Warren is second in the Big West in free throw percentage (88.2) while Terrell Gomez is second in 3-point percentage with a 59.1 clip. Gomez is also ninth in field goal percentage (51.7).

Behind Dawson in the point department, Warren is scoring 12.1 points per game followed by Gomez (11.4) and Shreiner (10.9). Warren is tied with Zeno Lake for the team lead in rebounds (6.1).

The Matadors are 10-7 all time against Idaho State after winning last season's meeting 79-76. The teams have split the last two meetings with each squad winning on its home court over the past two years. Last season, Dawson nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift CSUN over the Bengals. Dawson also scored a career-high 28 points in the victory. Prior to the teams' meeting in 2015 in Pocatello, the Matadors and Bengals had not face one another since 2001. When CSUN played in the Big Sky Conference from 1996-2001, the Matadors went 7-2 against Idaho State. All time in Pocatello, CSUN is 3-6.

A Closer Look at Idaho State
The Bengals are 1-5 this season after snapping a five-game skid with a 92-71 win over Bethesda last Friday. Idaho State will play the Matadors twice this season with the second meeting scheduled for Dec. 23 at The Matadome. Last season, the Bengals finished 6-26 and 3-15 in Big Sky Conference play.

Through three games this season, sophomore Jared Stutzman leads the team with 14.0 points per game on 54.2 percent shooting from the field. Also averaging in double figures, sophomore Balint Mocsan is scoring 12.0 points this season while senior Geno Luzcando is registering 10.3 points and 2.8 assists.

Matadors Visit Idaho State in Last Road Stop

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Zeno Lake

Lyrik Shreiner

Micheal Warren

California State University Northridge Athletics