Matadors Drop 80-66 Decision to UCSB

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball's backcourt combined for 36 points but it would not be enough to overcome UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos prevailed, 80-66 on Saturday at The Matadome. Junior TJ Starks scored a team-high 24 points to go with three rebounds and two assists while junior Darius Brown II added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Matadors (5-6, 1-3 Big West) trimmed a 15-point deficit to six with three minutes to play before the Gauchos closed the game on a 11-3 run to sweep the season series.

The Gauchos (10-3, 4-2 Big West) shot 54.0 percent from the field and made 20-of-23 from the free throw line (87.0 percent). A day after shooting below 37 percent, the Matadors finished shooting 45.5 percent from the field while they made 11-of-16 free throws (68.8 percent). UCSB out-rebounded CSUN 32-25 but the Matadors out-scored the Gauchos 34-28 in points in the paint.

FIRST HALF
Looking to bounce back from a game one defeat, the Matadors jumped ahead at the outset of the game on a Lance Coleman II triple but the Gauchos quickly went in front after a 12-2 run. Ron Artest III made his return to the lineup for the first time since opening day near the 13-minute mark and found the bottom of the hoop on a jumper to trim the deficit to four (14-10). The Gauchos would put together an 8-0 run after the Artest III jumper as Miles Norris' field goal made it a 22-10 game.

CSUN though kept the game close throughout the remainder of the first half as a 7-1 run, capped by a Starks basket pulled the home team to within six. An Alex Merkviladze block would lead to a Coleman II 3-pointer that brought CSUN closer to 25-21 with 5:25 on the clock. Led by Starks' eight points in the period, the Matadors closed the gap to 31-28 before the Gauchos answered with five-straight ponts. Festus Ndumanya made two late free throws, trimming the UCSB lead to 36-30 at intermission.

SECOND HALF
CSUN made seven of its first eight shots to start the second half while the Gauchos made nine of their first 11 field goals as the teams picked up the scoring following halftime. JaQuori McLaughlin battled early foul trouble but carried the load offensively for UCSB, scoring 19 points in the second half. Starks would drill back-to-back 3-pointers, pulling CSUN to within 47-43 but the Gauchos responded with a 10-4 run to build a 10-point advantage.

McLaughlin scored six-straight points for the Gauchos, capped off by a driving layup with 6:46 to play that put the Matadors in a 66-52 hole. Ajare Sanni converted on a free throw a minute later, giving UCSB its biggest lead of the game but the Matadors would make one last run in the closing minutes. CSUN forced two turnovers on the defensive end while it converted on three-straight possessions to quickly trim the lead to 67-59. After a McLaughlin basket, Starks and Artest III scored on consecutive possessions, bringing the Matadors to within 69-63.

As they had done throughout the contest, the Gauchos collected a timely basket as Sanni drained a 3-pointer and McLaughlin followed with two free throws a possession later, stretching the lead back to double digits. Amadou Sow closed the scoring for the Gauchos with a late hoop to give the road team a 14-point win.

GAME NOTES
Starks finished 8-of-19 from the field and went 6-of-10 at the free throw line. His 24-point game was his fifth 20-plus point performance of the season.

Off the bench, Fidelis Okereke scored nine points to go with three steals and three rebounds. Artest III scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds in 25 minutes.

For the Gauchos, McLaughlin had a game-high 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Sow added a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
"First thing, you're always disappointed when you don't win and we're disappointed but at the same time, as I told our players, that's a game we're going to build on. We played hard, we competed, we got better defensively and we got better offensively. We just came up a little bit short. They made some tough shots, you have to give them a lot of credit. When they needed to make a basket, they made it. We're going to keep our head up, we're disappointed we didn't win but that's a type of game we could build on.

I was proud of our players for bouncing back from how we played yesterday. They obviously played a lot harder and a lot better."

UP NEXT
CSUN visits Cal Poly next week in back-to-back games starting on Friday at 4 p.m. The game will stream on BigWest.TV while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

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Players Mentioned

Ron Artest III

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Alex Merkviladze

Festus Ndumanya

Fidelis Okereke

TJ Starks