Saturday, November 30
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
1-7,0-0Big West
73
vs
72
Fresno State
2-4,0-0Mountain
1
2
F
Fresno St.
41
31
72
CSUN
39
34
73
Team Stats
FRESNO
CSUN
FG%
.482
.411
3FG%
.314
.429
FT%
.583
.882
RB
33
28
TO
8
6
STL
2
2
Game Leaders
Pts
31
FGM
9
3FGM
7
FTM
6
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Paul Trafecanty
Gomez's 31 Leads CSUN Past Fresno State, 73-72
11/30/2019 5:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---Junior Terrell Gomez knocked down two free throws with four seconds remaining to lift CSUN Men's Basketball to a 73-72 victory over Fresno State and its first win of the season on Saturday afternoon at The Matadome. Gomez scored 31 points and knocked down 7-of-14 from 3-point range while sophomore Darius Brown II finished with 14 points and nine assists. Junior Lance Coleman II added 14 and sophomore Elijah Harkless chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Bulldogs shot 48.2 percent from the field including hitting 11-of-35 from 3-point range (31.4 percent) while the Matadors (1-7) shot 41.1 percent but made 12-of-28 from beyond the arc (42.9 percent). CSUN also shot the ball well at the free throw line, making 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) compared to Fresno State, who made 7-of-12 (58.3 percent). The rebounding edge went to the Bulldogs (33-28) while CSUN received a lift from its bench, outscoring the opposition 26-19.
FIRST HALF
Gomez would have a slow start to the game, missing his first five shots but Brown II picked up the slack, scoring seven of the Matadors' first nine points. The Bulldogs though led for most of the half as they built a 21-11 lead after an 8-0 run. After Coleman II drained a 3-pointer, Noah Blackwell answered with a trey of his own to keep the lead at double digits. Harkless gave the Matadors a boost of the bench, scoring seven-straight CSUN points during one stretch.
Trailing by 11 points with 8:02 to play, the Matadors caught fire from long range. Coleman II would knock down a 3-pointer then Gomez hit back-to-back shots from downtown to put the Matadors ahead 31-30 with 3:03 on the clock. Fresno State though had an answer as it buried three-straight from long range, capped by a trey from Mustafa Lawrence to push the lead to 39-31. Late in the half, Gomez earned his way to the line and made two free throws before the Matadors earned a defensive stop on the other end. Brown II concluded the half with a buzzer beater that banked off the glass from NBA range to send CSUN into the half trailing 41-39.
SECOND HALF
The Bulldogs began the half in strong fashion, outscoring the Matadors 12-2, to quickly go back up by 10. Nate Grimes wrapped up the scoring run with a 3-pointer from straight away. After scoring 10 in the first half, Gomez began to find his stroke from long range. The 5-8 junior made two-straight 3-pointers to quickly bring the Matadors to within 59-54. Moments later, Brown II drilled another 3-pointer to cut the lead to one (59-58) with 9:11 on the clock.
Following three consecutive defensive stops, the Matadors tasted the lead once more on yet another 3-pointer from Gomez. The lead changed hands five times over the next two minutes before Gomez put CSUN back on top at 69-67 with a long-range jumper. Harkless connected on two crucial free throws to give the Matadors their biggest lead at 71-67 before the Bulldogs evened the game up on baskets from Grimes and Jarred Hyder with 1:14 on the clock. Both teams came up empty on their next possession, but Orlando Robinson earned his way to the line with 22 seconds left and made 1-of-2, setting up a last look for CSUN.
Gomez found the ball in his hands and drove to the basket where he drew a shooting foul with four seconds to play. He calmly made both from the charity stripe but the Bulldogs had one last chance to steal the game. Fresno State drove the ball up the court where Aguir Agau took the last shot but his attempt went wide, giving the Matadors the one-point triumph.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"The most important thing is we went to Green Bay the other day and played Colgate and Green Bay and I thought we got better. We improved again today. The biggest thing for us is always asking ourselves are we getting better. We executed our offense I thought when we had to - we got great shots, defensively we did a pretty good job even though we gave up a couple late but overall our execution is getting better. Our spirit is good even though we lost some tough ones and the guys are still improving and improving."
GAME NOTES
Gomez passed three all-time Matador greats on the career scoring list on Saturday, which included Markus Carr (1998-02), Calvin Chitwood (2004-08) and George Robnett (1970-74). He now stands at 1,180 career points, which is 13th in team history. Gomez can enter into 12th place on the list, occupied by Jerry Joseph (1967-70), with 11 more points.
The win over the Bulldogs is the Matadors' first over a Mountain West Conference member since defeating Wyoming in Dec. 2000 (74-71).
For the Bulldogs, Grimes finished with a team-high 20 points.
UP NEXT
The Matadors return to the road for a pair of games in Portland this week. CSUN faces Portland on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. before visiting Portland State on Friday at 7:35 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
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The Bulldogs shot 48.2 percent from the field including hitting 11-of-35 from 3-point range (31.4 percent) while the Matadors (1-7) shot 41.1 percent but made 12-of-28 from beyond the arc (42.9 percent). CSUN also shot the ball well at the free throw line, making 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) compared to Fresno State, who made 7-of-12 (58.3 percent). The rebounding edge went to the Bulldogs (33-28) while CSUN received a lift from its bench, outscoring the opposition 26-19.
FIRST HALF
Gomez would have a slow start to the game, missing his first five shots but Brown II picked up the slack, scoring seven of the Matadors' first nine points. The Bulldogs though led for most of the half as they built a 21-11 lead after an 8-0 run. After Coleman II drained a 3-pointer, Noah Blackwell answered with a trey of his own to keep the lead at double digits. Harkless gave the Matadors a boost of the bench, scoring seven-straight CSUN points during one stretch.
Trailing by 11 points with 8:02 to play, the Matadors caught fire from long range. Coleman II would knock down a 3-pointer then Gomez hit back-to-back shots from downtown to put the Matadors ahead 31-30 with 3:03 on the clock. Fresno State though had an answer as it buried three-straight from long range, capped by a trey from Mustafa Lawrence to push the lead to 39-31. Late in the half, Gomez earned his way to the line and made two free throws before the Matadors earned a defensive stop on the other end. Brown II concluded the half with a buzzer beater that banked off the glass from NBA range to send CSUN into the half trailing 41-39.
SECOND HALF
The Bulldogs began the half in strong fashion, outscoring the Matadors 12-2, to quickly go back up by 10. Nate Grimes wrapped up the scoring run with a 3-pointer from straight away. After scoring 10 in the first half, Gomez began to find his stroke from long range. The 5-8 junior made two-straight 3-pointers to quickly bring the Matadors to within 59-54. Moments later, Brown II drilled another 3-pointer to cut the lead to one (59-58) with 9:11 on the clock.
Following three consecutive defensive stops, the Matadors tasted the lead once more on yet another 3-pointer from Gomez. The lead changed hands five times over the next two minutes before Gomez put CSUN back on top at 69-67 with a long-range jumper. Harkless connected on two crucial free throws to give the Matadors their biggest lead at 71-67 before the Bulldogs evened the game up on baskets from Grimes and Jarred Hyder with 1:14 on the clock. Both teams came up empty on their next possession, but Orlando Robinson earned his way to the line with 22 seconds left and made 1-of-2, setting up a last look for CSUN.
Gomez found the ball in his hands and drove to the basket where he drew a shooting foul with four seconds to play. He calmly made both from the charity stripe but the Bulldogs had one last chance to steal the game. Fresno State drove the ball up the court where Aguir Agau took the last shot but his attempt went wide, giving the Matadors the one-point triumph.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"The most important thing is we went to Green Bay the other day and played Colgate and Green Bay and I thought we got better. We improved again today. The biggest thing for us is always asking ourselves are we getting better. We executed our offense I thought when we had to - we got great shots, defensively we did a pretty good job even though we gave up a couple late but overall our execution is getting better. Our spirit is good even though we lost some tough ones and the guys are still improving and improving."
GAME NOTES
Gomez passed three all-time Matador greats on the career scoring list on Saturday, which included Markus Carr (1998-02), Calvin Chitwood (2004-08) and George Robnett (1970-74). He now stands at 1,180 career points, which is 13th in team history. Gomez can enter into 12th place on the list, occupied by Jerry Joseph (1967-70), with 11 more points.
The win over the Bulldogs is the Matadors' first over a Mountain West Conference member since defeating Wyoming in Dec. 2000 (74-71).
For the Bulldogs, Grimes finished with a team-high 20 points.
UP NEXT
The Matadors return to the road for a pair of games in Portland this week. CSUN faces Portland on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. before visiting Portland State on Friday at 7:35 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
Â
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