Matadors Earn First Win in Hawai'i Since 1998 with 77-71 Triumph

HONOLULU---CSUN Men Basketball collected its first victory in Hawai'i since 1998 as the Matadors snapped a five-game skid with a 77-71 victory on Saturday evening at Stan Sheriff Center. The senior combination of Tavrion Dawson and Micheal Warren finished with 22 points apiece while Terrell Gomez added 16 points. Dawson hit 11-of-16 from the floor as the Matadors shot a red-hot 65.1 percent from the field. In addition to posting its first win in Honolulu in two decades, CSUN snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Rainbow Warriors.

"When it's all said and done, you make shots, and we made shots, that makes the difference in any situation," said head coach Reggie Theus. "What I like most about the way we played is that we took one bad shot in the second half, and we got to the rim. We put the pressure by staying focused with what we had to do to win the game. You have a group that's struggled all year but this is a together group of guys that like each other and fight hard.

"I think it's important for our program, important for the psyche of our players," added Theus about the win. "This is a tough place to play. The trip is tough. We went to Pearl Harbor yesterday, did some team bonding and we tried to stay focused. The bottom line is you want to do some things as a team when you come here. In the end, we had to refocus them when we got to gym. It kept them loose, and kept them together. I just thought their attitude was fantastic. Hawai'i is a tough to place to win, so it's a big win for our program."

After shooting a season low 27.5 percent against the Rainbow Warriors in a 19-point loss on Jan. 6, the Matadors shot above 65 percent and hit 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from the 3-point arc. Hawai'i shot a superb 64.7 percent in the first half but was held to under 43 percent in the second half for a 51.1 percent shooting night for the game. The teams each finished with 21 rebounds in the contest but the Matadors earned seven steals to the Rainbow Warriors' two.

In the first half, CSUN briefly took a 2-0 lead at the outset of the game before Hawai'i jumped in front with five-straight points. The Rainbow Warriors built a 16-9 lead at the 11:19 mark of the first half after a 3-pointer from Samuta Avea.

The Matadors withstood the early Hawai'i run and quickly went to work on offense. Following a layup from Lyrik Shreiner, Dawson forced a turnover and knocked down a jumper on the other end. Warren would score in the paint, and Gomez hit back-to-back 3-pointers that brought CSUN even at 21-21. Moments later, Warren knocked down a trey off a feed from Jonathan Guevara to give CSUN the lead at the 6:40 mark, the team's first since the early moments of the game.

The teams went back-and-forth before the Matadors took control down the stretch of the half. Warren hit a jumper to give the Matadors the lead again at 30-29 with a little over three minutes to play. On the ensuing possession, Warren forced a turnover leading to a thundeous slam dunk from Jalon Pipkins in transition. Pipkins later hit a jumper to put the Matadors ahead by eight with 1:08 left to play but the Rainbow Warriors' Jack Purchase hit the last shot of the half to make it a 37-31 game.

Shooting 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half, CSUN improved that shooting percentage in the second half with a 68.4 percent clip. The Rainbow Warriors closed the gap to 42-39 early on in the period but Dawson went to work for the Matadors by hitting three-straight shots to push the lead to 48-39 at the 13:48 mark.

CSUN at one point hit five-straight shots in the second half as Dawson hit three of those attempts. His drive to the basket with 8:38 left to play resulted in a dunk, giving the Matadors a 59-48 advantage. The Matadors would extend their lead to 65-52 after consecutive 3-pointers from Gomez and Warren.

Hawai'i made one last push, scoring four-straight points to pull within 65-56 with 5:17 on the clock. The Matadors would not be fazed however, as CSUN countered with a 7-0 run, capped off by a reverse layup from Pipkins that extended the lead to 72-56. The Rainbow Warriors cut the deficit to single digits in the final minute but the Matadors knocked down three free throws down the stretch to hold off any late rally.

Off the bench, Pipkins finished with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting while Guevera had two assists and two rebounds. Mahamadou Kaba-Camara picked up two steals in seven minutes of action.

With his 22 points, Warren surpassed 900 points for his collegiate career, becoming the 26th Matador in team history to accomplish the feat. Currently at 917 points, Warren needs 83 more points to reach 1,000 career points.

The Matadors return home Wednesday to take on UC Riverside at 7 p.m. The game will be aired live on ESPN3 while an audio only broadcast will be available on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

Matadors Earn First Win in Hawai'i Since 1998 with 77-71 Triumph

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Team Stats

Micheal Warren

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Jalon Pipkins

Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Jonathan Guevara

Mahamadou Kaba-Camara

Jalon Pipkins

Lyrik Shreiner

Micheal Warren