Photo by: Paul Trafecanty
Matadors Drop Big West Opener to Hawai'i
1/6/2018 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball dropped its Big West Conference opener to Hawai'i, 65-46, on Saturday evening at The Matadome. Despite an off night from the floor, Tavrion Dawson finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Lyrik Shreiner had 11 points and seven rebounds of his own. Micheal Warren led the Matadors with eight rebounds on the night while he also scored nine points and Terrell Gomez posted a team-high five assists to go with 10 points. Hawai'i capitalized on a season-low 27.5 percent shooting from the Matadors en route to a wire-to-wire victory.Â
The Rainbow Warriors finished shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and won the rebounding battle 39-34. CSUN was outscored 40-20 in points in the paint but held advantages in points off turnovers (11-8) and second chance points (9-3).Â
"I give Hawai'i credit," said head coach Reggie Theus. "Hawai'i is not that much different than we are. They have a bunch of guys that contribute, but their level of physicality was doubled than our guys tonight. That really was it. I was more disappointed in that than anything."
In the opening minutes, the Rainbow Warriors scored the game's first five points before Shreiner netted the Matadors' first basket at the 18:35 mark. CSUN would however have a tough time finding the bottom of the net throughout the night. Hitting just 1-of-8 from the floor to begin the game, the Matadors allowed the Rainbow Warriors to take advantage and stake to a 14-2 lead.Â
Mike Thomas led the way for the Rainbow Warriors, scoring 18 points in the first half as his slam dunk at the 9:06 mark pushed the lead to 25-7. For the game, Thomas had a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds.Â
Dawson did his best to keep the Matadors in the game early on, scoring all 12 of his points in the opening period. His five-straight points trimmed a 21-point Hawai'i lead to 16 (38-22). With seconds left in the half, Gomez stole the ball away from Brocke Stepteau near mid-court and was fouled. Capping a 7-0 run, Gomez hit two free throws with four seconds left to bring the Matadors within 38-24.Â
However, Hawai'i quickly halted the Matadors' rally in the early stages of the second half. The Matadors missed their first three shots while the Rainbow Warriors hit their first three shots to turn a 14-point halftime lead to 45-24. CSUNÂ again was unable to knock down shots in the half, finishing 7-of-28 from the floor in the 20-minute session.Â
Going scoreless in the first half, Warren scored nine points in the second half including going 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Shreiner also finished with six of his 11 points in the period.Â
The Matadors trimmed the deficit to as little as 17 with just over two minutes to play (63-46) but were unable to creep closer down the stretch. In the second half, Hawai'i outscored the Matadors 27-22 despite shooting just 40.0 percent from the floor.Â
CSUNÂ looks to regroup next week as it travels to Long Beach State on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. The game will be aired live on Fox Sports West. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister will be on the call for an audio broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health.Â
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Team Stats
UH
CSUN
FG%
.472
.275
3FG%
.250
.200
FT%
.667
.714
RB
39
34
TO
13
16
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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A Conversation With Mark Gottfried
Friday, June 19
Preseason chat with Terrell Gomez
Thursday, October 03