Matadors Return to The Matadome Saturday vs. LMU

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball returns home for the first time in a month on Saturday evening as the Matadors host Loyola Marymount on The Blacktop @ The Matadome at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

The Matadors concluded their longest stretch of games played away from home since the 2004-05 season on Wednesday evening against Idaho State. CSUN battled back from a seven-point deficit with five minutes to play to take a 66-65 lead with less than 90 seconds left. However, the Bengals responded with a 9-0 run to end the game for the 74-66 victory. Despite the outcome, Micheal Warren had one of his strongest games of the season as he posted his first career double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Terrell Gomez added 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

During CSUN's seven-game trip away from home, the Matadors went to four different states and traveled outside of the country to compete in the Cancun Challenge. Counting a couple of round trips to Fresno State and Cal, CSUN traveled well over 12,400 miles to complete the trip. CSUN tangled with teams from six different conferences including facing George Mason, Southeast Missouri State and Binghamton for the first time in program history. Although the Matadors came up short during the trip, the young group held second-half leads in three of the games and took a George Mason team that won 20 games last season to the limit in an overtime contest.

Through seven games, Tavrion Dawson leads the team in scoring with 14.6 points per game to go with 5.1 rebounds. Behind Dawson, Warren is scoring 12.9 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds while he is shooting 40.6 percent from the 3-point line and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. Gomez continues to be a threat from long range as he is shooting 57.1 percent from downtown to go along with 11.9 points. Also scoring in double figures, Lyrik Shreiner is scoring 10.8 points per game with 4.0 rebounds. Warren has scored in double figures seven times this season while Shreiner and Dawson have done it six times apiece.

In the Big West, Gomez is second in 3-point percentage while Warren is third in free throw percentage. Warren is also third in the league in defensive rebounds per game (6.3) and eighth in overall rebounds a game. Dawson sits in sixth place in points per game.

Loyola Marymount leads CSUN 12-7 in the all-time head-to-head series. The Matadors have dropped the last three games in the series but the last two contests have been decided by a combined three points. Last season, CSUN fell on a late LMU put-back layup with nine seconds left in a 69-68 defeat. In 2015-16, the Lions posted an 82-80 win in overtime. Inside The Matadome, CSUN owns a 6-5 edge in the series. The Matadors look to snap a nine-game skid to teams from the West Coast Conference. CSUN's last win over a WCC opponent came against San Diego in Nov. 2012.

A Closer Look at Loyola Marymount
The Lions are 4-4 this season after falling to Portland State (94-85) at Gersten Pavilion on Wednesday. Earlier this season, The Lions defeated UC Riverside 76-64 and posted wins over McNeese State in overtime (92-86) and Incarnate Word (91-87). Last season, LMU finished 15-15 and 8-10 in West Coast play.

Three Lions are scoring in double figures led by junior James Batemon with 15.9 points per game. Batemon is also averaging 4.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds this season. Freshman Eli Scott is scoring 12.9 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds while senior Steven Haney is averaging 11.9 points. As a team, LMU has scored 79.1 points per game and has shot 44.6 percent from the field. The team is also grabbing 39.1 rebounds a game.

Matadors Return to The Matadome Saturday vs. LMU

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Lyrik Shreiner

Micheal Warren