CSUN Falls Short to Hawai'i, 76-72

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (10-13, 6-4 BWC) fell to Hawai'i (11-11, 5-4 BWC), 76-72, on Saturday evening at The Matadome. After scoring a career-high (23 points) on Wednesday, Darin Johnson scored a new career-best of 27 points to go along with four rebounds. Tavrion Dawson came a rebound shy of posting yet another double-double as he finished with 14 points and nine rebounds while Kendall Smith had 15 points, six assists and four steals. Despite holding a second-half lead, the Matadors were unable to overcome a Hawai'i surge down the stretch.

"We had, a lot of times, a lack of ball movement offensively that caused a problem," said head coach Reggie Theus. "In the game, I bet we had about four or five charge calls against us, 50-50 calls, but our guys also have to learn how to jump stop and avoid those kind of things too. Statistically, when you look at the game, there's really no difference in our statistics. You have to give Noah Allen a lot of credit, he's playing great right now. I told our guys before the game, if he has a great game, it's likely we're not going to be able to win the game. We had three guys in double figures and they had one."

Both team shots nearly identically from the field as Hawai'i finished shooting 44.6 percent while CSUN shot 44.3 percent for the night. The Matadors went 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line compared to the Rainbow Warriors who went 18-of-22 (81.8 percent). CSUN won the rebounding battle, 37-35, and the points in the paint department, 38-32. Hawai'i, however, knocked down 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc while CSUN shot 3-of-15 (20.0 percent).

In the first half, the Matadors raced out to an early seven-point lead, 15-8, after a 3-pointer from Smith at the 14:57 mark. Hawai'i would later respond with a 9-1 run as a 3-pointer from Noah Allen gave the Rainbow Warriors a 25-23 advantage. Allen led Hawai'i throughout the first half, scoring 21 of his game-high 34 points in the period.

Hawai'i took its largest lead of the first half, 33-26, at the 2:43 mark of the first half but the Matadors fought back to trim the deficit to 37-33 at halftime. Johnson scored nine points in the period including four points in the final 1:09 of the half to keep CSUN within striking distance.

After intermission, Allen continued to find success on the offensive end, scoring five of his team's first nine points to push the lead to 46-39.

Struggling from the field in the opening period (39.3 percent), the Matadors finally were able to put the ball in the basket with more efficiency near the midway mark of the second period. Scoring on four-straight possessions, CSUN took a 48-46 lead as a jumper from Johnson capped off a 9-0 run.

Following a pair of made free throws from Reggie Theus Jr., Johnson scored again on a driving layup to put CSUN ahead 52-47.

However, Hawai'i would right the ship down the stretch. With 7:18 left to play, and the Matadors up 57-53, Hawai'i put together a 13-2 run over a 4:34 span to surge back into the lead. A layup from Matthew Owies gave the Rainbow Warriors a 66-59 advantage with 2:44 left on the clock.

On the ensuing possession, Johnson cut the lead to four with a 3-point play via a driving layup but the Rainbow Warriors responded with a layup from Allen at the 1:35 mark.

Johnson again trimmed the deficit to four on another score on the next play down the court but Hawai'i would hold on in the final moments with exceptional shooting at the free throw line. Hawai'i went a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line the final 33 seconds to claim the four-point victory.

Along with his career-high 27 points, Johnson posted a new personal-best of nine field goals made. Johnson also earned his way to the free throw line with regularity, going 9-of-11 for the night.

Dawson extended his double-digit scoring streak to eight games with his 14-point effort. Although he was unable to record his fourth-straight double-double on Saturday, Dawson has averaged 11.5 rebounds along with 17.8 points over the last four games.

With five points versus the Rainbow Warriors, Aaron Parks is now in sole possession of 18th place on the Matadors' all-time scoring list with 1,007 points. Parks needs 34 more points to climb into 17th place, currently occupied by Todd Bowser (1986-91).

CSUN will return to the court next Saturday evening for a contest against UC Santa Barbara on Prime Ticket. Tip off is slated for 7:30 p.m.

CSUN Falls Short to Hawai'i, 76-72

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Team Stats

Darin Johnson

Kendall Smith

Tavrion Dawson

Micheal Warren

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Reggie Theus Jr.