Saturday, January 15
Long Beach, Calif.
4:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
5-10,1-2Big Wes
55
at
71
Long Beach State
6-9,2-1Big West
1
2
F
CSUN
29
26
55
Long Beach St.
30
41
71
Team Stats
CSUN
LBSU
FG%
.356
.414
3FG%
.286
.235
FT%
.600
.655
RB
38
44
TO
17
12
STL
4
8
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG/F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Will Navarro
Long Beach State Pulls Away in Second Half to Beat CSUN
1/15/2022 6:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LONG BEACH, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball could not overcome a slow start to the second half as Long Beach State pulled away for a 71-55 victory on Saturday at Walter Pyramid. Atin Wright led the Matadors with 14 points while Onyi Eyisi recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Matadors trailed by a point at halftime but the Beach would take control in the second half by outscoring CSUN 41-26.
The Matadors shot 35.6 percent from the field while the Beach connected on 41.4 percent of their shot attempts. Long Beach State would earn 29 trips to the free throw line, converting on 19 (65.5 percent) compared to the Matadors who made 9-of-15 (60.0 percent). The Beach led in rebounds 44-38 and outscored the Matadors 20-6 in points off turnovers.
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GAME BREAKDOWN
The Matadors surrendered the game's first eight points before cracking the scoring column at the 15:46 mark on a 3-point play from Eyisi. CSUN started just 1-of-10 from the field as the Beach staked to a 12-3 lead. However, the Matadors closed the gap starting with an Elijah Hardy jumper. The basket began a 7-0 run to quickly cut the deficit to two points. CSUN would score six unanswered near the midway point of the first period, eventually taking a 16-14 lead.
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The margin remained close over the final minutes of the first period as the Beach took a 28-23 lead with 2:11 remaining before Brendan Harrick drained a deep 3-pointer along with a free throw. Joel Murray would lead all scorers in the first half, pouring in 10 points while three Matadors scored seven apiece. Wright closed the scoring with a long 2-pointer to bring the Matadors to within 30-29 at intermission.
The Beach would come out fast to start the second half, again, scoring the first eight points to quickly build a nine points advantage (38-29). Aboubacar Traore scored six of those first eight points while Jadon Jones drilled a 3-pointer moments later to push the lead to 43-33. CSUN tried to weather the storm with buckets from Christian Gray and Fidelis Okereke but the Beach went on a 9-2 run as the lead swelled to 15 points (52-37).Â
The Matadors were able to connect on consecutive hoops from Hardy and Kailen Rains to trim the lead to 11 (52-41) with 9:44 left to play before Long Beach State answered with five consecutive points of its own. Fighting until the final minutes, the Matadors pulled to within 11 points on two separate occasions but could not get any closer. Jones scored 11 points in the second half to help put the game away for the Beach, who led by as many as 20 points.
GAME NOTES
Eyisi's double-double was his first as a Matador and the second overall of his career. Harrick nearly posted a double-double of his own after finishing with nine points and nine rebounds. Gray finished with seven rebounds and two points. Elijah Uche made his collegiate debut in the final minute of play.
For the Beach, Murray had a game-high 16 points while Jones had 15 points. Traore had 16 rebounds to go with 10 points.
Thursday was the teams' first regular season meeting since 2020 after COVID-19 wiped away the two games scheduled for last season.
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ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We struggled to guard them without fouling them and that magnified in the second half. What was disturbing was our transition defense after makes. It was poor and we just didn't get back on defense. Without looking at the tape, I've got to believe they had 15 points in transition with about six or seven baskets that were uncontested, which was very surprising considering how we competed in the first half. We hadn't had it in a while but there was a period of five or six minutes where we lost our way and lost our composure."
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UP NEXT
CSUN opens a three-game homestand on Thursday against UC Davis at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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#UniteTheValley
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The Matadors shot 35.6 percent from the field while the Beach connected on 41.4 percent of their shot attempts. Long Beach State would earn 29 trips to the free throw line, converting on 19 (65.5 percent) compared to the Matadors who made 9-of-15 (60.0 percent). The Beach led in rebounds 44-38 and outscored the Matadors 20-6 in points off turnovers.
Â
GAME BREAKDOWN
The Matadors surrendered the game's first eight points before cracking the scoring column at the 15:46 mark on a 3-point play from Eyisi. CSUN started just 1-of-10 from the field as the Beach staked to a 12-3 lead. However, the Matadors closed the gap starting with an Elijah Hardy jumper. The basket began a 7-0 run to quickly cut the deficit to two points. CSUN would score six unanswered near the midway point of the first period, eventually taking a 16-14 lead.
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The margin remained close over the final minutes of the first period as the Beach took a 28-23 lead with 2:11 remaining before Brendan Harrick drained a deep 3-pointer along with a free throw. Joel Murray would lead all scorers in the first half, pouring in 10 points while three Matadors scored seven apiece. Wright closed the scoring with a long 2-pointer to bring the Matadors to within 30-29 at intermission.
The Beach would come out fast to start the second half, again, scoring the first eight points to quickly build a nine points advantage (38-29). Aboubacar Traore scored six of those first eight points while Jadon Jones drilled a 3-pointer moments later to push the lead to 43-33. CSUN tried to weather the storm with buckets from Christian Gray and Fidelis Okereke but the Beach went on a 9-2 run as the lead swelled to 15 points (52-37).Â
The Matadors were able to connect on consecutive hoops from Hardy and Kailen Rains to trim the lead to 11 (52-41) with 9:44 left to play before Long Beach State answered with five consecutive points of its own. Fighting until the final minutes, the Matadors pulled to within 11 points on two separate occasions but could not get any closer. Jones scored 11 points in the second half to help put the game away for the Beach, who led by as many as 20 points.
GAME NOTES
Eyisi's double-double was his first as a Matador and the second overall of his career. Harrick nearly posted a double-double of his own after finishing with nine points and nine rebounds. Gray finished with seven rebounds and two points. Elijah Uche made his collegiate debut in the final minute of play.
For the Beach, Murray had a game-high 16 points while Jones had 15 points. Traore had 16 rebounds to go with 10 points.
Thursday was the teams' first regular season meeting since 2020 after COVID-19 wiped away the two games scheduled for last season.
Â
ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We struggled to guard them without fouling them and that magnified in the second half. What was disturbing was our transition defense after makes. It was poor and we just didn't get back on defense. Without looking at the tape, I've got to believe they had 15 points in transition with about six or seven baskets that were uncontested, which was very surprising considering how we competed in the first half. We hadn't had it in a while but there was a period of five or six minutes where we lost our way and lost our composure."
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN opens a three-game homestand on Thursday against UC Davis at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
Â
#UniteTheValley
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