Matadors Knock Off Hawai'i, Secure Second Seed in Big West Tournament

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (15-17, 10-6 Big West) received a combined 58 points from sophomore Lamine Diane and junior Terrell Gomez as the Matadors wrapped up the regular season with an 86-62 win over Hawai'i on Saturday at The Matadome. Diane poured in 34 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks while Gomez scored 24 points and made 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Sophomore Elijah Harkless chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.

With their fourth-straight win, the Matadors finished tied for second in the Big West with a 10-6 record, which is the program's best conference finish since the 2008-09 season. The Matadors have also posted 10 conference wins for the first time since the 2008-09 Matadors went 11-5 and won the league. CSUN clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big West Tournament and will face No. 7 seed Cal State Fullerton in the opening round on Thursday.

The Matadors shot 49.2 percent from the field and hit 7-of-18 3-pointers (38.9 percent). CSUN was also efficient from the free throw line, making 15-of-18 (83.3 percent). Hawai'i was held to 36.8 percent shooting in the second half and finished with a 47.8 shooting percentage for the night. The Rainbow Warriors converted on 10-of-28 from 3-point range (35.7 percent). CSUN won the rebounding battle 40-31 and outscored Hawai'i 42-28 in points in the paint.

FIRST HALF
CSUN made its first three shots to start the game leading 6-0 but Hawai'i made its first three shots as well including two from 3-point range to complete an 8-0 run. The teams traded the lead seven times in the first half until the Rainbow Warriors went on an 11-2 run to build a 29-20 advantage. Eddie Stansberry made four of seven Rainbow Warrior treys in the first half to finish with 18 points. Stansberry drilled a mid-range jumper at the 6:30 mark to push the lead to 36-26.

The Matadors would chip away at the lead in the final minutes beginning with a 3-pointer from Gomez and a traditional 3-point play from Diane. Harkless would knock down a perimeter jumper before Diane made two from the free throw line to trim the deficit down to two. Hawai'i would answer with a 7-0 run behind two consecutive triples from Stansberry. CSUN though made another push in the last two minutes, outscoring the Rainbow Warriors 9-0 as Brendan Harrick drained a 3-pointer and Harkless made a layup inside. Harrick also found Darius Brown II for a mid-range jumper to square the game at 47-47 at the half.

SECOND HALF
CSUN finally grabbed the lead on a 3-pointer from Harrick just before the first media timeout of the second half. Gomez also knocked down a 3-pointer two minutes later to give the Matadors a 59-55 lead. The Rainbow Warriors would fight back and score seven unanswered points to lead 66-63 following a 3-pointer from Stansberry. The Matadors fell behind by as many as five points in the second half following a layup from Stansberry (73-68) with 9:30 left to play.

The bucket from Stansberry would be the last field goal for Hawai'i for over seven minutes as the Matador defense took control of the contest. After Gomez made three-straight from the free throw line, Diane gave the Matadors the lead at 75-74 on a fast break dunk. Gomez sank another 3-pointer and Diane followed with a fadeaway jumper, giving the Matadors a four-point edge. Stansberry finally ended the field goal drought with his seventh 3-pointer but Diane gave CSUN a three-point lead with 1:41 remaining on a dunk. Stansberry missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, which would lead to a Diane layup, making it an 84-79 game. Hawai'i would pull to within two points after a field goal from Stansberry and a free throw from Justin Hemsley but Gomez hit two late free throws to seal the win.

GAME NOTES
Diane moved into ninth place on the Matador career scoring list with 1,304 points, ahead of Jim Malkin (1959-62). He also tied a school record for blocks in a game with six, which matches the marks set by Calvin Chitwood (Dec. 2007) and Tre Hale-Edmerson (twice in Dec. 2013) The double-double was Diane's 31st of his career.

Harrick chipped in with eight points off the bench and Brown II had nine rebounds and six assists for CSUN.

For Hawai'i, Stansberry finished with a team-high 31 points.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"I'm really proud of our guys. I mentioned this before the game that we got beat pretty bad here by Irvine and then we recovered. But sometimes when you win a game like we did at Irvine, it's a little bit more difficult to get your team back up and ready. I thought we started off not as locked in as we were in the second half. Our small lineup helped us pretty well. Lamine made some big shots as did Terrell. Defensively, they made only three 3's in the second half. A nice win, I'm proud of our guys. We couldn't catch Irvine but we're pretty comfortable being number two."

UP NEXT
CSUN sets its sight on the three-day Big West Tournament held at the Honda Center from March 12-14. The Matadors match up with Cal State Fullerton in the opening round as the teams split the season series. The game will broadcast on ESPN3 at noon. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at 11:50 a.m. at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

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Team Stats

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Elijah Harkless

Brendan Harrick

Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Lamine Diane

Terrell Gomez

Elijah Harkless

Brendan Harrick