Matadors Host Bethesda on Wednesday Afternoon

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball concludes a two-game homestand on Wednesday afternoon against Bethesda at 2 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.

The Matadors are officially 1-1 all-time against Bethesda, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). The Matadors prevailed on Dec. 20, 2015, 79-49, over the Flames but Bethesda defeated CSUN in 2016 with a 100-95 triumph at The Matadome.

CSUN snapped a three-game skid last Saturday night in a 69-66 win over Portland State. The Matadors shook off a tough shooting night (36.5 percent) to post a 15-point lead with less than 12 minutes to play. The Vikings though stormed back with a 30-14 run to take a one-point lead with 2:19 on the clock. CSUN would reclaim the lead on a Brendan Harrick layup and receive timely free throws from Elijah Hardy and Atin Wright to secure the win.

It would be a career night for Wright against Portland State as the sophomore scored a personal-best 28 points and went 13-of-14 at the free throw line. Harrick poured in a season-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds and three blocks. As a team, CSUN posted a season-best 25 free throws made, 16 offensive rebounds and 12 steals.

Heading into the week, Wright is 11th in the Big West Conference in points per game (12.4) while he tops the league in free throw percentage (97.1). Onyi Eyisi is third in the conference in field goal percentage (56.8) and Harrick comes in third in blocks per game (1.1). Hardy is also sixth in the league in steals per game (1.4) and eighth in assists per game (2.7). As a team, the Matadors rank second in the Big West in free throw percentage (75.9) and fifth in steals per game (6.7).

After Wednesday's game, the Matadors will take a week off before beginning Big West Conference play against UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center on Dec. 30. It will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2020 after their scheduled two games last season were canceled due to COVID precautions.

A Closer Look at Bethesda
The Flames are officially 2-10 but will play their 13th exhibition game of the season on Wednesday versus CSUN. Bethesda has played each of their exhibitions against Division I and II teams and most recently at Utah Valley last Friday (107-65 loss) and Idaho State on Saturday (103-68 loss). The Flames have played Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, UC Irvine and Long Beach State, all in exhibition games, this season already. Bethesda's 12 regular season this season have been against NAIA and Division III programs. Head coach Leo Balayon is in his sixth season with the program.

Mark Carter leads the team in scoring at 16.9 per game and rebounding at 8.4 per game in the team's regular season contests. Tyler Goodlow is also scoring in double figures with 12.8 points while Sam Skipper is averaging 10.5 points per game to go with a team-high 19 steals. The Flames have averaged 78.3 points per game on the year.

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Matadors Host Bethesda on Wednesday Afternoon

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Players Mentioned

Onyi Eyisi

Elijah Hardy

Brendan Harrick

Atin Wright