Saturday, February 29
Northridge, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
13-17,8-6Big We
99
vs
92
Cal State Fullerton
10-19,5-9Big We
1
2
F
Cal St. Fullerton
33
59
92
CSUN
43
56
99
Team Stats
CSF
CSUN
FG%
.453
.486
3FG%
.200
.444
FT%
.667
.719
RB
48
41
TO
11
7
STL
2
5
Game Leaders
Pts
27
FGM
9
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
27
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Tim Strong
Matadors Hold Off Fullerton for 99-92 Win
2/29/2020 10:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (13-17, 8-6 Big West) held off a late charge from Cal State Fullerton to pick up a 99-92 win on Saturday at The Matadome. Sophomore Lamine Diane posted his 10th double-double of the season with 27 points and 14 rebounds while junior Terrell Gomez added 27 points and five assists. The sophomore guard tandem of Elijah Harkless and Darius Brown II registered 14 and 13 points, respectively. With tonight's result, the Matadors earned their eighth conference win for the first time since the 2010-11 season and moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Big West.
CSUN finished with a 48.6 shooting percentage and made 8-of-18 from the 3-point line (44.4 percent). The Titans shot 45.3 percent but hit just 4-of-20 from downtown (20.0 percent). Fullerton out-rebounded CSUN 48-41. The game featured 50 total fouls called as well as 62 free throws. CSUN hit 23-of-32 (71.9 percent) at the foul line compared to the Titans who made 20-of-30 (66.7 percent). A total of three players fouled out of the game and another seven finished the game with four personal fouls.
FIRST HALF
The Titans led over the first four minutes of the contest until Diane made a jumper to give CSUN its first lead at 9-8. Jackson Rowe scored four of the Titans' next six points and Davon Clare later converted inside to put his team back on top 16-13. The Matadors trailed by as many six points (23-17) near the midway mark of the first half before scoring the next six points to even the game up.
A key 7-0 spurt near the six-minute mark flipped the score in favor of the Matadors. Brendan Harrick would start the run with a 3-pointer then Gomez and Diane followed with baskets. Harkless also got into the scoring act and at one point scored five-straight points to stretch the lead to eight. In the final minute, Gomez capped off the half with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Matadors up by double-digits at 43-33.Â
SECOND HALF
Out of the halftime break, the Matadors maintained their momentum as they scored on five-straight possessions to quickly go ahead by 15 points. CSUN also received points from six different players during a stretch where it outscored Fullerton 18-5. A Michael Ou field goal with 10:44 left to play capped off the run and put the Matadors on top by their biggest margin at 73-48.
Trailing by 25, the Titans continued to battle and mounted a furious rally over the remaining minutes of the half. A 9-1 run quickly cut the lead to 74-57 then a 3-point play from Daniel Venzant with seven minutes to play made it a 14-point game. The lead shrunk even further to single digits after another 8-0 Titan run before Gomez hit a timely mid-range jumper with 2:35 to play. Gomez also drained a 3-pointer nearly a minute later that pushed the lead back to 11 (91-80). CSUN would make eight free throws in the final 1:18 to secure the victory.
GAME NOTES
CSUN finds itself tied with UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis for second place in the Big West standings with one week to play. The Matadors' win over the Titans was the program first since Jan. 2017, snapping a seven-game skid in the series.
Gomez moved into fourth place on the Matadors' all-time career field goals made list with 532, ahead of Ian Boylan (2001-05) who made 526 while at CSUN. Gomez also climbed into fifth place on the Big West's all-time career 3-point field goals made list with 286 treys. Diane also moved up the career field goals made list, ahead of Cliff Higgins (1981-84), with 495 baskets.
For Fullerton, the trio of Rowe, Kamga and Austen Awosika all had 18 points.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"I'm never going to be unhappy with a win. We just didn't finish the game very smartly in my opinion. We made a lot of errors and mental errors. They put their head down and drove and I thought when we had an 18-point lead or so we took our foot off the pedal. Then all of sudden they're playing a little harder in the last six or seven minutes than we did and I thought that was the difference. We didn't finish it the way we wanted to but at the end of the day, it is a win and we're not going to be disappointed with winning.
I thought both Terrell and Lamine were good. Lamine had a heck of a game but he also missed I think three dunks - he could have easily had over 30. Terell made some big shots - some absolute big, big shots for us and he's done it so many times. A good win but you have to give Fullerton credit. They played in Hawai'i two nights ago. I thought they would run out of gas and they never did. We just had a little more than they did at the end."
UP NEXT
The Matadors open up the final week of the regular season with a road test at regular season champion UC Irvine on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN3. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio at 6:50 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
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CSUN finished with a 48.6 shooting percentage and made 8-of-18 from the 3-point line (44.4 percent). The Titans shot 45.3 percent but hit just 4-of-20 from downtown (20.0 percent). Fullerton out-rebounded CSUN 48-41. The game featured 50 total fouls called as well as 62 free throws. CSUN hit 23-of-32 (71.9 percent) at the foul line compared to the Titans who made 20-of-30 (66.7 percent). A total of three players fouled out of the game and another seven finished the game with four personal fouls.
FIRST HALF
The Titans led over the first four minutes of the contest until Diane made a jumper to give CSUN its first lead at 9-8. Jackson Rowe scored four of the Titans' next six points and Davon Clare later converted inside to put his team back on top 16-13. The Matadors trailed by as many six points (23-17) near the midway mark of the first half before scoring the next six points to even the game up.
A key 7-0 spurt near the six-minute mark flipped the score in favor of the Matadors. Brendan Harrick would start the run with a 3-pointer then Gomez and Diane followed with baskets. Harkless also got into the scoring act and at one point scored five-straight points to stretch the lead to eight. In the final minute, Gomez capped off the half with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Matadors up by double-digits at 43-33.Â
SECOND HALF
Out of the halftime break, the Matadors maintained their momentum as they scored on five-straight possessions to quickly go ahead by 15 points. CSUN also received points from six different players during a stretch where it outscored Fullerton 18-5. A Michael Ou field goal with 10:44 left to play capped off the run and put the Matadors on top by their biggest margin at 73-48.
Trailing by 25, the Titans continued to battle and mounted a furious rally over the remaining minutes of the half. A 9-1 run quickly cut the lead to 74-57 then a 3-point play from Daniel Venzant with seven minutes to play made it a 14-point game. The lead shrunk even further to single digits after another 8-0 Titan run before Gomez hit a timely mid-range jumper with 2:35 to play. Gomez also drained a 3-pointer nearly a minute later that pushed the lead back to 11 (91-80). CSUN would make eight free throws in the final 1:18 to secure the victory.
GAME NOTES
CSUN finds itself tied with UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis for second place in the Big West standings with one week to play. The Matadors' win over the Titans was the program first since Jan. 2017, snapping a seven-game skid in the series.
Gomez moved into fourth place on the Matadors' all-time career field goals made list with 532, ahead of Ian Boylan (2001-05) who made 526 while at CSUN. Gomez also climbed into fifth place on the Big West's all-time career 3-point field goals made list with 286 treys. Diane also moved up the career field goals made list, ahead of Cliff Higgins (1981-84), with 495 baskets.
For Fullerton, the trio of Rowe, Kamga and Austen Awosika all had 18 points.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"I'm never going to be unhappy with a win. We just didn't finish the game very smartly in my opinion. We made a lot of errors and mental errors. They put their head down and drove and I thought when we had an 18-point lead or so we took our foot off the pedal. Then all of sudden they're playing a little harder in the last six or seven minutes than we did and I thought that was the difference. We didn't finish it the way we wanted to but at the end of the day, it is a win and we're not going to be disappointed with winning.
I thought both Terrell and Lamine were good. Lamine had a heck of a game but he also missed I think three dunks - he could have easily had over 30. Terell made some big shots - some absolute big, big shots for us and he's done it so many times. A good win but you have to give Fullerton credit. They played in Hawai'i two nights ago. I thought they would run out of gas and they never did. We just had a little more than they did at the end."
UP NEXT
The Matadors open up the final week of the regular season with a road test at regular season champion UC Irvine on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN3. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio at 6:50 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
Â
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