Matadors Fall on Senior Night to Cal State Fullerton

Wednesday, February 28

Northridge, CA

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

6-24, 3-13BWC

102

Cal State Fullerton

17-10, 10-5BWC

Cal State Fullerton

102

CSUN

Photo by: Samuel Ware

Matadors Fall on Senior Night to Cal State Fullerton

2/28/2018 9:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball suffered a 102-76 loss to Cal State Fullerton in its regular season finale on Wednesday evening at The Matadome. With the defeat, the Matadors have been eliminated from postseason play. Lyrik Shreiner scored a career-high 20 points to go with six rebounds and four assists while Terrell Gomez wrapped up his outstanding freshman campaign with 16 points and five assists. Playing in their final collegiate games of their career, Tavrion Dawson posted eight points and three rebounds, and Reggie Theus Jr. poured in six points and four rebounds.

"It's been a tough year, and the biggest problem we've had all year was our size," said head coach Reggie Theus. "Tonight they get 68 points in the paint and that's just size. It's hard when the odds are stacked against you every night. [Fullerton] is a good basketball team, and we just didn't have the inside players to really overcome what they were doing. But one thing I did tell our guys was that I appreciated how hard they played and that they stayed together as a team. The unity and camaraderie on this team was consistent all year and that has a lot to do with our team leadership."

The Titans shot 57.1 percent for the game while the Matadors finished shooting 43.8 percent from the field. CSUN knocked down 9-for-26 (34.6 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc compared to Fullerton's 4-of-10 shooting (40.0 percent) from downtown. The Titans outscored the Matadors 68-18 in points in the paint and enjoyed a 47-23 edge in rebounding.

In the first half, the Matadors went on an early 7-0 run to lead 13-9 at the 14:31 mark. From there, the Titans would turn the game around in a hurry. Fullerton held the Matadors scoreless for nearly five minutes as the Titans completed a 17-0 run to lead 26-13.

Jonathan Guevara finally ended the scoring drought with a pair of free throws at the 9:51 mark but the Matadors would not hit a field goal until nearly two minutes later on a 3-pointer from Shreiner. Ahead by 13 points, the Titans would go on another 7-0 run, capped off by a layup from Jackson Rowe. The Titans led by as many as 27 points (53-26) in the first half until the Matadors scored the final four points of the period to go into intermission trailing 53-30. Fullerton finished with a 62.5 shooting percentage in the opening stanza.

Early on in the second half, the Titans went on another 9-0 run to extend the lead to 64-32. Despite the large deficit, the Matadors continued to battle down the stretch. Gomez hit three of his four 3-pointers in the second half while Shreiner knocked down 3-of-6 field goals. Off the bench, Jalon Pipkins scored all seven of his points in the game after intermission.

The Matadors were able to trim the deficit to 22 points (72-50) on a 3-pointer from Gomez at the 10:25 mark but the Titans would not let CSUN get any closer down the stretch. Kyle Allman led the Titans with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Arkim Robertson picked up 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Matadors' regular season finale marked the final home game for the CSUN senior class. The team's leading scorer, Dawson finished his career tied for 10th in CSUN history in scoring (1,221 points) while also eighth in blocked shots (50) and 10th in field goals made (456). Warren wrapped up his collegiate career tied for eighth in CSUN history with an 80.2 free throw percentage to go with 921 career points scored. Theus Jr. served as the Matadors' team captain this season as he finished with career highs in points (6.2), rebounds (2.2) and field goal percentage (40.9).

"I thought TD's career here was fantastic," said Theus about Dawson. "He's averaging 16 points and nearly seven rebounds for the second-year in a row. He's first or second team all-conference in my opinion. It's been a tough situation this season because he hasn't had much help because of the lack of size on the team but he's still had a great career here.

"I'm so proud of my son, it's not even funny," added Theus. "A 6-foot-6 five man, he's adjusted to being a post guy when he really isn't a post guy. He's had to battle guys seven, eight inches taller than him, and 30 pounds heavier than him all year long. But it's been a joy to even be a part of his basketball career. I told him last night that its been one of the hardest years and the best years of my life because of my opportunity to be with him.

"Mikey [Warren] didn't play tonight but he's had a great career too," continued Theus about Warren. "I would imagine Mikey is one of the best all-around players in CSUN history. He has a tremendous IQ and he plays hard. The last three games we've played without Mikey have hurt us bad."

The Matadors conclude the 2017-18 season with a 6-24 record and a 3-13 mark in Big West play. Dawson averaged a career-high 16.7 points per game this season to go with 6.6 rebounds. Warren averaged a personal-best 6.1 rebounds while also scoring 12.1 points per game. One of the leading candidates for Big West Freshman of the Year, Gomez led the league in minutes per game (34.1) and 3-point percentage (46.1) as he finished with 11.7 points and 3.6 assists per game.