Matadors Drop Heartbreaker to Cal Poly in Double Overtime

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball rallied from 15 down and led by three with seconds remaining in overtime but the Mustangs' Victor Joseph nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime where Cal Poly prevailed 90-86 on Thursday evening at Mott Athletics Center. Tavrion Dawson finished with his sixth double-double of the season, recording 31 points and 12 rebounds. Lyrik Shreiner also posted a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds while Terrell Gomez had 12 points and five assists and Reggie Theus Jr. chipped in with 11 points.

"I thought our guys gave a great effort," said head coach Reggie Theus. "We're missing a starter [Micheal Warren], and Swan [Anthony Swan] didn't make the trip either. You look at all the statistical things, we played well in a lot of areas. We made the plays we needed to make. 40 points in the paint is big for us, 24 points off turnovers, we turned them over 16 times, all those are things that help you win games.

"In the overtimes, there were a couple of 50-50 balls we didn't come up with, a couple missed free throws but I just thought the guys played hard," added Theus. "We played extremely well without Mikey [Warren]. Think about it, that's a huge loss to not have him. We played guys that hadn't played all year. A lot of guys contributed, in the end you have to make winning plays, and we didn't make the critical winning play we needed to make."

CSUN got off to a solid start, scoring the first four points as Dawson and Theus Jr. made layups. Dawson would give the Matadors a 9-4 lead after the first media timeout. However, Cal Poly would turn it around in a hurry. The Mustangs scored five unanswered, capitalizing on two CSUN turnovers to quickly even the game at 9-9. After Dawson made a layup, Donovan Fields knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Mustangs their first lead.

Marcellus Garrick later hit from beyond the 3-point arc to put Cal Poly ahead 23-15, capping off a 19-6 run. The Mustangs leaned on the 3-pointer throughout the night and especially the first half as they knocked down seven. Fields and Luke Meikle connected on back-to-back treys to push the lead to double digits. Cal Poly led by as many as 15 points in the half (40-25) following a driving layup from Fields with 1:32 left to play.

The Matadors did go into the halftime break with a bit of momentum. Dawson completed a traditional 3-point play with 49 seconds remaining, and Carl Brown hit from the 3-point arc in the final seconds to cut the lead to 40-31.

Cal Poly regained control to start the second half, going on a 10-2 run to take a 50-35 lead at the 15:36 mark of the second half. The Matadors would show little quit in the period, however, as they found their offensive stroke and quickly cut the deficit to single digits. A 9-2 run trimmed the Mustang lead to 52-44, and Dawson later scored four-straight points, punctuated by a steal and dunk on the fast break.

The Mustangs remained in front and led 62-55 when the Matadors went to their bench and substituted Blair Orr into the game. Orr helped keep the Mustangs off the glass and also created a key turnover that led to a Gomez basket in transition, capping off a 7-0 run. Orr scored his first career basket at the 4:58 mark to trim the lead to 65-64. Shreiner then connected on a 3-point play to put the Matadors ahead 67-65, and Dawson later extended the lead to four with 2:51 left on the clock.

The Matadors though could not hold the lead in regulation. Joseph hit two free throws and Fields evened the game at 69-69 at the 1:22 mark. The Matadors received two looks at the basket down the stretch including a mid-range jumper for Dawson at the buzzer but neither shot would fall.

In the first overtime, the Matadors led by four points 73-69 before the Mustangs pulled to within one with less than a minute to play. Brown nailed a clutch 3-pointer to push the lead to 76-72 with 14 seconds remaining but Joseph returned the favor with a 3-pointer of his own four seconds later. After Gomez made two free throws to extend the lead back to three, Joseph connected again from downtown as the horn sounded, sending the game to a second overtime.

Cal Poly led for the entire second overtime and built an 85-80 lead on an another 3-pointer from Joseph with 1:11 left to play. After CSUN pulled to within 85-84 on a 3-point play from Shreiner, Luke Meikle was fouled and hit the first free throw but missed the second. The Matadors, however, were unable to secure the defensive rebound as the ball went out of bounds. Joseph was fouled on the inbound play and made two free throws to ice the game.

Dawson's double-double was the 14th of his career while Shreiner posted his third. With his 31 points, Dawson also moved into an 11th place tie with Jerry Joseph (1967-70) on the Matadors' all-time career scoring list with 1,191 carer points. Off the bench, Brown added 10 points and five rebounds for the Matadors.

CSUN shot 45.5 percent from the field and 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from the 3-point arc. Cal Poly countered with a 45.3 shooting percentage but the team shot 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) from downtown. Cal Poly out-rebounded the Matadors 45-39.

For the Mustangs, Joseph finished with 36 points and Fields scored 23 points.

The Matadors return home Saturday to take on UC Santa Barbara at 5 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN3.

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Team Stats

Tavrion Dawson

Lyrik Shreiner

Terrell Gomez

Reggie Theus Jr.

Players Mentioned

Carl Brown

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Blair Orr

Lyrik Shreiner

Anthony Swan

Micheal Warren