Matadors Fall at Cal Poly, 74-56

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (6-12, 1-1 Big West) suffered a 74-56 defeat at Cal Poly (4-12, 1-1 Big West) on Saturday night at Mott Athletics Center. Junior Terrell Gomez scored a team-high 14 points while sophomore Lamine Diane added 12 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes of play before fouling out.

The Matadors, who came in leading the Big West in scoring, struggled with their shot throughout the night, finishing just 35.8 percent from the field while the Mustangs made a robust 52.7 percent of their shots. CSUN also made just 4-of-13 from 3-point range for the night (30.8 percent). The Mustangs out-rebounded the Matadors 41-24.

FIRST HALF
The Mustangs staked to an early 6-2 lead in the opening two minutes of the game. CSUN looked up at a deficit for the first eight minutes before catching the Mustangs at 10-10 on a Gomez bucket. Gomez then picked up a steal leading to a Diane dunk to give CSUN its first lead of the game. Diane converted on a jumper near the midway mark of the half to give CSUN a two-point advantage (14-12) but the Mustangs scored the next four to take back the lead.

CSUN was hampered by poor shooting in the first half (36.0 percent) while Cal Poly shot over 53 percent from the field. After a Jared Pearre dunk with 5:28 to play, the Matadors missed their final five shots of the half. Cal Poly would take advantage and close the half on a 10-2 run to lead 32-25 at the break.

SECOND HALF
The Matadors came out flat after intermission as the Mustangs scored the first seven points of the half. Diane was whistled for three fouls in the first three minutes, forcing him to the sidelines. Cal Poly maintained its momentum and extended the lead to 45-27 on a drive from Junior Ballard at the first media timeout. Lance Coleman II finally gave the Matadors their first field goal with almost five minutes into the half but the Mustangs scored the next eight points to build a 53-31 lead.

Diane returned to the court at the 13-minute mark and made his first jumper but he would foul out with 9:34 to play. Despite the huge hill to climb, the Matadors kept on battling in the closing minutes. A Gomez 3-pointer and Elijah Harkless score in transition brought the Matadors to within 15 points (59-44). CSUN trimmed the deficit to as small as 13 points after a Coleman II 3-pointer with 5:39 to play. However, the Mustangs would not let the Matadors inch any closer as a 12-2 run over the next four minutes put the game out of reach.

GAME NOTES
Gomez finished 8-of-8 at the free throw line as he broke Josh Greene's school record of 33-straight made free throws. The 5-8 junior has now made 39-straight from the charity stripe.

Darius Brown II finished with nine points and four rebounds while Harkless added seven points and three rebounds.

For Cal Poly, Tuukka Jaakkola scored a team-high 17 points.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"We weren't very good at anything tonight. We started off slow, we didn't handle the ball really well, didn't execute our offense really well and didn't defend very well, didn't rebound very well and didn't make foul shots in the first half. Very disappointing. The good news is it's 16 games in the league, they all count the same, even though some feel like they count more than others."

UP NEXT
The Matadors return to action for a road game at UC Riverside on Thursday. Tip-off slated for 7 p.m.

#UniteTheValley

Next Event

Team Stats

Terrell Gomez

Lamine Diane

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Elijah Harkless

Jared Pearre