Idaho State Clips the Matadors, 74-66

POCATELLO, Idaho---CSUN Men's Basketball held a one-point lead with less than 90 seconds left to play but Idaho State scored the final nine points to hand the Matadors a 74-66 defeat on Wednesday evening at Holt Arena. Micheal Warren posted his first career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Terrell Gomez had 15 points and Lyrik Shreiner posted 10 points. Off the bench, Mahamadou Kaba-Camara gave the Matadors a presence in the middle with a career-best eight points to go with four rebounds in 21 minutes.

"Our effort was great but the team lacks toughness," said head coach Reggie Theus. "When the game's on the line, and you have an opportunity to go up three, we go zero for our next three or four times down the court and [Idaho State] runs off nine points. I told them in the huddle that the only way [Idaho State] wins is if they make 3's, and that's what they did.

"Kaba's had the best three games of his career on this road trip," continued Theus. "If it's any indication of how he's going to progress who knows how good a player he can be. And Mikey [Warren] played like a veteran player tonight."

The Matadors shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half before dropping to 46.4 percent after halftime for a 50.0 percent clip for the game. In comparison, the Bengals shot a woeful 29.0 percent in the first half but improved to an exceptional 55.6 percent in the second half. Idaho State also went 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from the 3-point line compared to 4-of-15 shooting (26.7 percent) for CSUN. The Matadors again struggled with taking care of the ball as they committed 17 turnovers leading to 19 Bengals points.

CSUN took an early four-point lead at the first media timeout after Warren picked off a pass and went the other way for a two-handed dunk. Scoring 22 first-half points in the paint, the Matadors received a lift from Kaba-Camara. The 7-footer threw down a dunk off a lob pass from Shreiener to push the lead to 12-7.

Balint Mocsan briefly gave the Bengals a 22-20 lead before the Matadors put together an 8-0 run to surge ahead by six. Shreiner scored four points in the spurt including a driving layup off a feed from Gomez. The Bengals though would not go away as Idaho State hit four 3-pointers to the Matadors' none to remain within striking distance.

After Brandon Boyd pulled the Bengals within 32-30, Gomez hit a 3-pointer with under a minute to play to give CSUN a five-point lead at intermission.

Zeno Lake scored in the lane to give CSUN a 37-30 edge early on in the second period but the Bengals would fight back and go on a 12-2 run. Five consecutive made shots for the Bengals including a pair of 3-pointers coupled with two CSUN turnovers gave the home team a 42-39 lead. Following a 3-point play from Tavrion Dawson, the Bengals went on another 7-0 run to extend to a 55-47 lead at the 11:06 mark.

Behind Warren, the Matadors continued to battle despite their second-half funk. Warren drove to the hoop at the 6:01 mark to pull CSUN within 59-56. The Bengals later opened up a 65-58 advantage with 4:26 left to play before Warren nailed a 3-pointer to keep the Matadors alive.

Gomez answered Warren's 3-pointer with a long ball of his own to cut the deficit to one. CSUN had an opportunity tie the game after a foul was called on the Gomez score but Lake missed the ensuing free throw. Unfazed, the Matadors would take the lead (66-65) moments later on a jumper from Kaba-Camara, which capped an 8-0 run.

Trailing by a point with under a two minutes to play, Idaho State received a huge bucket from Novak Topalovic in the lane to take back the lead. Kaba-Camara had a chance to put CSUN back in front on the next possession but his shot went a little long.

The Bengals would then take a four-point lead seconds later on a Boyd 3-point play. Boyd would ice the game at the free throw line after a CSUN turnover with 14 seconds remaining.

Along with his first career double-double, Warren also grabbed a personal-best 12 rebounds including 11 defensive rebounds. Gomez hit three of the Matadors' four 3-pointers on six attempts. For the Bengals, Mocsan scored a game-high 23 points.

The Matadors return home on Saturday evening against Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m.

Idaho State Clips the Matadors, 74-66

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Team Stats

Micheal Warren

Terrell Gomez

Lyrik Shreiner

Tavrion Dawson

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Mahamadou Kaba-Camara

Zeno Lake

Lyrik Shreiner

Micheal Warren