Tuesday, March 9
Las Vegas, Nev.
3:00 pm
California State University at Northridge
9-13
63
vs
85
Long Beach State
6-11
1
2
F
Long Beach St.
46
39
85
CSUN
26
37
63
Team Stats
LBSU
CSUN
FG%
.516
.290
3FG%
.409
.167
FT%
.750
.900
RB
48
31
TO
20
13
STL
6
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Matadors Fall to Long Beach State at Big West Tournament
3/9/2021 6:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nev.---CSUN (9-13) suffered a first-round loss to Long Beach State, 85-63, on Tuesday afternoon at the Air Force Reserve Big West Men's Basketball Championship in Las Vegas, Nev. TJ Starks led CSUN in scoring with 23 points while freshman Atin Wright tallied 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
The Matadors shot a season-low 29.0 percent from the field and made 5-of-30 attempts from 3-point range (16.7 percent). In contrast, the Beach shot 51.6 percent from the floor and would make 9-of-22 from downtown. Long Beach State controlled the glass, out-rebounding CSUN by a 48-31 margin. Points in the paint (38-24) and second-chance points (16-8) also went the Beach's way in the contest.
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FIRST HALF
CSUN jumped out in front 5-2 after a 3-pointer from Starks in the early moments of the game. After a Fidelis Okereke layup, the Beach would go on a 7-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. Starks would tie the game on a mid-range jumper with 15:26 on the clock but it would be the Matadors' last field goal for over eight minutes. Long Beach State took advantage of the Matadors' 15 consecutive misses from the field to build a double-digit lead.
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Jadon Jones drained a 3-pointer to push the Beach's lead to 29-15 with 7:24 left to play. Darius Brown II finally ended the Matador drought with a pull-up jumper on the ensuing possession but Long Beach State scored the next five points. After another 10-2 Beach run, the lead swelled to 20 points at 44-24. Starks made a late field goal for CSUN but the Beach closed the half on a dunk from Trever Irish to lead 46-26 at the break. In the period, CSUN shot just 19.4 percent while the Beach shot over 48 percent from the floor.
SECOND HALF
Out of halftime, the Beach extended their lead on a Joe Hampton 3-point play. Starks would complete a traditional 3-point play of his own near the 17-minute mark but the Matadors were unable to get closer than 20 points the rest of the way. The Beach went on an 8-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Chance Hunter to push the lead to 29 points. RJ Rhoden's 3-pointer gave Long Beach State its biggest lead of the contest at 71-41 with 9:09 to play.
The Matadors though would continue to battle in the closing minutes. Wright came off the bench and scored all 16 of his points in the second half. After hitting a 3-pointer near the seven-minute mark, the freshman hit back-to-back treys to help cut the lead to 21 (80-59). Wright would close his scoring spree late in the second half with three-straight made free throws.
GAME NOTES
Brown II made his 86th consecutive start and secured sole possession of 10th place on the Matadors' all-time career games started list. Alex Merkviladze recorded his sixth double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10 boards to go with four points. Off the bench, Festus Ndumanya chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.
For the Beach, four scored in double figures led by Jones' 19 points.
HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED POSTGAME COMMENTS
"We just started the game offensively so poorly. I don't think we've ever had a game where we had that long of a stretch where we could not get the ball in the basket. It wasn't just one guy, it was kind of everybody. We had good shots. Then what happened, our offense probably affected our defense. We started to press a little bit, got a little frustrated and then it kind of steamrolled on us. But our guys played hard. The other thing that's important to say is Long Beach played terrific, you've got to give them credit. They eliminated a player the other day, they put another guy in the game and played really, really well. It was probably a combination, they played really well and we didn't have one of our better games obviously, and there you get the outcome. Our guys tried their best, they played hard, we just didn't play well and that happens sometimes."
"I was watching a game last night and they were talking about young teams and I said 'wait a minute', you look at our team, we've got a lot of young guys. Again when you look at it, they really improved. Especially if you look at Amound in November, December and January and you look at him now, he's way better. Fidelis got better and better. Alex had a weekend, last week, where he had 30 points and 26 rebounds in two games for a freshman. I'm proud of [TJ]. He played with a lot of young players. Early in the season, it could be frustrating at times because they're not really ready yet but they got better. Same with Darius. I think it's a critical offseason, we missed that last year. If we all come back and be together, we have a chance to be really, really good."
TJ STARKS POSTGAME COMMENTS
"It was a long journey. We had to deal with so much stuff like COVID restrictions, zoom classes, online classes, there were so many factors that played a part in this year. As a program, we just had to figure it out. Everybody had to deal with it across the country. Coach Gottfried tells us all the time, we're not the only team going through it."
"At the beginning [of the season] it was frustrating [to play with a younger team]. That just comes with playing with young guys and being an older guy. We just had to figure it out in the beginning. As the season went on, we kind of started clicking together and gelling together to figure out how to get wins late in the season. Just playing with freshmen, it taught me a lot. It taught me how to fix my attitude and put a lot of things in perspective. I think that playing with freshmen helped me get better in a way, as well as with them playing with me.
#UniteTheValley
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The Matadors shot a season-low 29.0 percent from the field and made 5-of-30 attempts from 3-point range (16.7 percent). In contrast, the Beach shot 51.6 percent from the floor and would make 9-of-22 from downtown. Long Beach State controlled the glass, out-rebounding CSUN by a 48-31 margin. Points in the paint (38-24) and second-chance points (16-8) also went the Beach's way in the contest.
Â
FIRST HALF
CSUN jumped out in front 5-2 after a 3-pointer from Starks in the early moments of the game. After a Fidelis Okereke layup, the Beach would go on a 7-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. Starks would tie the game on a mid-range jumper with 15:26 on the clock but it would be the Matadors' last field goal for over eight minutes. Long Beach State took advantage of the Matadors' 15 consecutive misses from the field to build a double-digit lead.
Â
Jadon Jones drained a 3-pointer to push the Beach's lead to 29-15 with 7:24 left to play. Darius Brown II finally ended the Matador drought with a pull-up jumper on the ensuing possession but Long Beach State scored the next five points. After another 10-2 Beach run, the lead swelled to 20 points at 44-24. Starks made a late field goal for CSUN but the Beach closed the half on a dunk from Trever Irish to lead 46-26 at the break. In the period, CSUN shot just 19.4 percent while the Beach shot over 48 percent from the floor.
SECOND HALF
Out of halftime, the Beach extended their lead on a Joe Hampton 3-point play. Starks would complete a traditional 3-point play of his own near the 17-minute mark but the Matadors were unable to get closer than 20 points the rest of the way. The Beach went on an 8-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Chance Hunter to push the lead to 29 points. RJ Rhoden's 3-pointer gave Long Beach State its biggest lead of the contest at 71-41 with 9:09 to play.
The Matadors though would continue to battle in the closing minutes. Wright came off the bench and scored all 16 of his points in the second half. After hitting a 3-pointer near the seven-minute mark, the freshman hit back-to-back treys to help cut the lead to 21 (80-59). Wright would close his scoring spree late in the second half with three-straight made free throws.
GAME NOTES
Brown II made his 86th consecutive start and secured sole possession of 10th place on the Matadors' all-time career games started list. Alex Merkviladze recorded his sixth double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10 boards to go with four points. Off the bench, Festus Ndumanya chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.
For the Beach, four scored in double figures led by Jones' 19 points.
HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED POSTGAME COMMENTS
"We just started the game offensively so poorly. I don't think we've ever had a game where we had that long of a stretch where we could not get the ball in the basket. It wasn't just one guy, it was kind of everybody. We had good shots. Then what happened, our offense probably affected our defense. We started to press a little bit, got a little frustrated and then it kind of steamrolled on us. But our guys played hard. The other thing that's important to say is Long Beach played terrific, you've got to give them credit. They eliminated a player the other day, they put another guy in the game and played really, really well. It was probably a combination, they played really well and we didn't have one of our better games obviously, and there you get the outcome. Our guys tried their best, they played hard, we just didn't play well and that happens sometimes."
"I was watching a game last night and they were talking about young teams and I said 'wait a minute', you look at our team, we've got a lot of young guys. Again when you look at it, they really improved. Especially if you look at Amound in November, December and January and you look at him now, he's way better. Fidelis got better and better. Alex had a weekend, last week, where he had 30 points and 26 rebounds in two games for a freshman. I'm proud of [TJ]. He played with a lot of young players. Early in the season, it could be frustrating at times because they're not really ready yet but they got better. Same with Darius. I think it's a critical offseason, we missed that last year. If we all come back and be together, we have a chance to be really, really good."
TJ STARKS POSTGAME COMMENTS
"It was a long journey. We had to deal with so much stuff like COVID restrictions, zoom classes, online classes, there were so many factors that played a part in this year. As a program, we just had to figure it out. Everybody had to deal with it across the country. Coach Gottfried tells us all the time, we're not the only team going through it."
"At the beginning [of the season] it was frustrating [to play with a younger team]. That just comes with playing with young guys and being an older guy. We just had to figure it out in the beginning. As the season went on, we kind of started clicking together and gelling together to figure out how to get wins late in the season. Just playing with freshmen, it taught me a lot. It taught me how to fix my attitude and put a lot of things in perspective. I think that playing with freshmen helped me get better in a way, as well as with them playing with me.
#UniteTheValley
Â
Texas State vs. Eastern Washington
Saturday, November 20
Texas State vs. Dixie State
Friday, November 19
A Conversation With Mark Gottfried
Friday, June 19
Preseason chat with Terrell Gomez
Thursday, October 03