Portland State Edges CSUN, 73-67

PORTLAND, Ore.---CSUN Men's Basketball (2-8) dropped a close battle with Portland State 73-67 on Friday at the Viking Pavilion. Junior Terrell Gomez scored a team-high 21 points while freshman Brendan Harrick added 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Sophomore Darius Brown II chipped in with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds.

The Matadors shot 43.3 percent from the field while the Vikings finished with a 39.4 shooting percentage. However, PSU would knock down 13-for-32 from 3-point range (40.6) compared to the Matadors who made 33.3 percent (6-for-18). On the glass, the Vikings out-rebounded the Matadors 48-35 including 22-10 in offensive rebounds.

FIRST HALF
CSUN enjoyed the lead for most of the half due to a red-hot start where the Matadors made five of their first six shots. Harrick knocked down the first shot of the game and capped off a 12-2 spurt with a drive to the hoop in transition. He also would score six-straight CSUN points during one stretch and his layup at the 15:05 mark gave the Matadors a 16-4 lead.

Holland Woods helped lead the Vikings back into the game as he scored eight-straight points, bringing Portland State to within 18-12. Lance Coleman II made his first two from the field to put the Matadors ahead by seven but the Vikings scored the next eight to take their first lead (24-23). The Matadors would reclaim the lead in the closing minutes of the half as Harrick pushed his first-half total to 14 with another 3-pointer. After a late Gomez drive gave the Matadors a 36-33 edge, the Vikings evened the game up on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Matt Hauser.

SECOND HALF
CSUN gained some separation in the early minutes of the second half after a Brown II jumper and Gomez 3-pointer on the fast break to go up 45-39. After the Vikings closed the gap to one, Ron Artest III got into the scoring act with three consecutive dunks. Hauser would catch fire for Portland State in the second half, going 5-for-8 in the period. The Viking sharpshooter made back-to-back from downtown then Woods followed with a basket to put the Vikings ahead 53-49.

The Vikings maintained a slim lead until two-straight triples from Hauser extended their advantage to 66-58 with 5:54 on the clock. The Matadors continued to battle back as Gomez drained a 3-pointer followed by two free throws from Harrick to pull CSUN within three. Minutes later, Coleman II trimmed the lead to 70-67 with 1:09 on the clock before Ian Burke nailed a clutch 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. CSUN would commit a costly turnover on its next time down the floor, sealing the win for the Vikings.

GAME NOTES
Gomez entered the Matadors' all-time career Top 10 scoring list on Friday. With 1,229 career points, Gomez surpassed the tandem of Tavrion Dawson (2015-18) and Cliff Higgins (1981-84) for 10th place on the scoring list. On the career 3-point field goals made list, Gomez has made 219, which is nine away from all-time leader Josh Greene's mark of 228.

Artest III finished with seven points and six rebounds while Jared Pearre grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two.

For the Vikings, Hauser scored a game-high 29 points and knocked down 9-of-16 from 3-point range.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"I thought our guys played hard but we had too many mental errors defensively. We left [Hauser] open three or four times - he made a couple tough ones but we also lost him too many times where he got looks at it. One thing we've done really well the last three or four games is guard the dribbler - they were quicker than us tonight. We had a tough time containing them off the dribble and it really hurt us."

UP NEXT
CSUN returns to The Matadome on Wednesday to take on North Dakota State at 7 p.m.

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Team Stats

Terrell Gomez

Brendan Harrick

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Players Mentioned

Ron Artest III

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Brendan Harrick

Jared Pearre