CSUN Hosts Cal State LA in Final Tune-Up Before Season

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball hosts Cal State LA its second and final exhibition game on Thursday evening at The Matadome. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister will call all the action on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health and courtesy of BigWest.TV. Live stats will also be available for the contest. All links can be found on the men's basketball schedule page at GoMatadors.com.

CSUN kicked off the Mark Gottfried era with an exhibition victory over Antelope Valley, 88-77, last Thursday night. The Matadors led virtually from start to finish, leading by as many as 19 points. The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to six points at the midway mark of the second half before the Matadors went on a 19-6 run to put the game out of reach. CSUN finished with an impressive 55.2 percent shooting effort from the floor including a 62.1 percent clip in the second half.

Freshman Lamine Diane posted a double-double in his first ever game with the Matadors, scoring 30 points and collecting 17 rebounds off the bench. Diane knocked down 14-of-21 of his shots from the field and pulled down six offensive boards. Sophomore Terrell Gomez found his stroke from outside range as he knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points. Graduate Cameron Gottfried chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds while freshman Darius Brown II added seven points and seven assists off the bench.

Also starting in the game, Michael Ou had six points and two rebounds, Jared Pearre finished with five rebounds and three points and Elijah Harkless posted three points and four rebounds. A total of 13 Matadors saw action in the contests as 10 players scored points.

Thursday's exhibition will be the Matadors' final tune-up before officially starting the season against New Mexico on Tuesday, Nov. 6. CSUN is hosting the Lobos for the first time in team history as well as its first Mountain West Conference team since the 2000-01 season. This season, the Matadors play 16 games inside The Matadome, which ties a program record. During non-conference play, the Matadors also hosts Portland (Nov. 17), Tennessee State (Nov. 20), Sacramento State (Dec. 1), Pacific (Dec. 16), Morgan State (Dec. 29) and Yale (Jan. 5), in addition to Division II team Cal State San Marcos (Dec. 5).

The Matadors have played Cal State LA twice over the last three seasons in exhibition action. CSUN defeated the Golden Eagles 94-75 on Oct. 2016 and pulled out a 54-50 victory in Nov. 2015. Junior Mahamadou Kaba-Camara scored six points in 11 minutes of action against Cal State LA two seasons ago. The Matadors have a long history with their old Division II rival, which dates back to the 1959-60 season. The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series 28-26 in 54 all-time meetings in the regular season. The teams last met in the regular season in Feb. 1991 with the Golden Eagles edging the Matadors, 76-74.

A Closer Look at Cal State LA
The Golden Eagles went 13-15 last season including 9-13 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Of the team's returning nine letterwinners, senior Jihad Woods is the Golden Eagles' top returning scorer after scoring 9.6 points per game to go with 6.1 rebounds last season. Also returning, junior Khalil Williams averaged 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds for the Golden Eagles. As a team, Cal State LA averaged 77.6 points per game along with 7.8 steals and 3.5 blocks a year ago.

CSUN Hosts Cal State LA in Final Tune-Up Before Season

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Cameron Gottfried

Elijah Harkless

Mahamadou Kaba-Camara

Michael Ou

Jared Pearre