Matadors Sweep Season Series from UCSB with 79-67 Win

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (9-14, 4-3 Big West) powered past UC Santa Barbara (13-8, 2-4 Big West) 79-67 on Thursday night at The Matadome to sweep the season series. Sophomore Lamine Diane had a team-high 26 points to go with four assists while junior Terrell Gomez had 22 points and four assists of his own. Another sophomore, Darius Brown II scored 14 and dished out four assists. Freshman Festus Ndumanya grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and added four points. The Matadors' season sweep over the Gauchos is the team's first since the 2016-17 season.

CSUN shot at a high percentage throughout the night, topping out at 57.4 percent including an 8-for-16 effort from 3-point range. The Gauchos shot 44.7 percent for the game and made 9-for-21 from 3-point range (42.9 percent). The Matadors converted on 9-for-11 from the free throw line while UCSB made 16-for-22 (72.7 percent). UCSB held a narrow 27-26 edge in rebounding but the Matadors controlled the paint, outscoring the opposition 34-22.

FIRST HALF
Playing under the bright lights of national television, the Matadors got off to a quick start as Elijah Harkless drained the first shot from long range. Brown II would add to the lead with a 3-point shot to push the Matadors ahead 8-3 early on. UCSB rallied back, scoring the next 11 points, capped by a driving layup from Devearl Ramsey. The Matadors responded with an 11-3 spurt to lead 19-7 as Diane scored nine of those points.

The game remained tight until the Matadors went on an 8-0 run near the end of the half. Ndumanya gave the Matadors a spark off the bench as he scored four-straight points and picked up a defensive rebound leading to a Gomez jumper in transition. Gomez buried back-to-back jumpers with a minute to play to help stretch the Matador lead to 12 points. Ramsey though converted on a 3-pointer to beat the halftime horn, pulling the Gauchos to within 35-26. The Matadors shot 59.3 percent in the first half while they held the Gauchos to 40.9 percent shooting from the floor.

SECOND HALF
Jared Pearre began the half with a basket to push the lead back to double digits but the Gauchos scored the next four as Amadou Sow drained a 3-pointer. After a Max Heidegger 3-point play, Jay Nagle drained a trey to trim the CSUN advantage to 39-36. The lead stood at three until Diane stroked back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Matadors a bit more breathing room. Moments later, Ndumanya picked up a block on a 3-point attempt from JaQuori McLaughlin, leading to a Diane dunk on the fast break. Gomez would drain a mid-range jumper to push the lead to 51-41 with 11:24 to play.

Brendan Harrick picked up four key points for CSUN on putbacks near the midway mark of the half to help keep the Matadors ahead by double digits. The Gauchos chipped away at the lead, trimming the lead to eight with 5:41 to play but Diane sank another timely 3-pointer on the next CSUN possession. The Matador offense continued to roll down the stretch as Gomez picked up two-straight 3-pointers including a deep trey on the fast break. Brown II knocked down a 3-pointer of his own with 1:40 to play, pushing the lead to 71-57. Led by the Matadors' top two scorers, Gomez scored 16 in the second half while Diane notched 15 including a late dunk to ice the game.

GAME NOTES
Diane made 10-for-19 from the field and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Gomez finished 7-of-13 from the field while he made 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Brown II had a 6-of-9 effort from the field. Harkless chipped in with seven points and four rebounds.

For the Gauchos, Heidegger scored a game-high 30 points.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"I think our guys have solved a little bit of the rubik's cube we always talk about. Our team is playing together really well. They're passing the ball, we're defending as a team and I like how we're playing. I thought that was the biggest difference tonight. We moved the ball pretty well. Open guys had the ball. A lot of different guys made some big plays in key times. I thought our defense was pretty solid most of the night. Big win for us and now we have to turn it around quickly and get on the plane tomorrow morning and fly all the way out there to the island to try to get another one."

UP NEXT
CSUN makes the trek to Hawai'i to take on the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night at Stan Sheriff Center. Tip-off is slated for 10 p.m. (PST). Ghizal Hasan will call the action in an audio broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health.

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Team Stats

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Darius Brown II

Elijah Harkless

Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Elijah Harkless

Brendan Harrick

Festus Ndumanya

Jared Pearre