Matador Comeback Falls Short Against UC Riverside

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball's second-half rally came up short on Saturday as the Matadors fell to UC Riverside 77-67 at The Matadome. Atin Wright led the way for CSUN with 19 points while Fidelis Okereke and Elijah Hardy had 12 points apiece. Kailen Rains chipped in with 11 points. The Matadors trimmed a 20-point deficit to 10 with less than eight minutes to play but could not make up the gap in the closing minutes.

The Matadors (5-12, 1-4 Big West) shot 45.7 percent from the field while the Highlanders (10-5, 3-1 Big West) finished with a 48.1 shooting percentage. UCR though connected on 13-of-33 shots from 3-point range (39.4 percent) compared to the Matadors who made 4-of-11 (36.4 percent). CSUN earned 29 trips to the free throw line, making 21 for a 72.4 percentage while UC Riverside made 14-of-20 (70.0 percent). The Highlanders held a 32-28 rebounding edge and 18-3 advantage in points off turnovers. CSUN led in points in the paint, 28-24.

GAME BREAKDOWN
The Matadors began the game by missing their first six shots while the Highlanders connected on four of their six shots to jump out to an 11-0 lead. Wright finally put the Matadors on the scoreboard at the 14:57 mark of the first half before CSUN put together a 7-0 run to quickly pull to within 14-9. However, the Highlanders' 3-point shooting was the difference in the first half as they made 9-of-18 attempts. Will Tattersall and Dominick Pickett combined to hit 6-of-8 from long distance in the opening stanza to help keep the Highlanders in front by double-digits.

Flynn Cameron drilled another UCR trey before throwing down a dunk to put CSUN in a 28-12 hole with eight minutes to play in the first half. CSUN later trimmed the deficit to 11 points but a 15-6 Highlander run extended the lead to 46-26. Hardy was a bright spot for CSUN offensively, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the first period, however, the Highlanders went into intermission leading 48-30.

After shooting 59 percent in the first half, the Highlanders kept up their strong offensive play by making three of their first five shots including making two more 3-pointers to build a 56-36 lead. The Matadors would trail by a 58-40 margin with 13:45 to play before beginning to chip away at the deficit. Earning their way into the bonus in the foul department, the Matadors made eight consecutive free throws to cut the lead to 12 then Wright scored on a transition play to bring CSUN closer at 63-53 with 7:53 on the clock.

The Highlanders would have an answer to CSUN's run as they countered with an 8-0 run that was capped by another 3-pointer from Pickett. CSUN showed little quit despite the hot shooting of the Highlanders in the final minutes. Rains drained a 3-pointer of his own at the 5:23 mark before Christian Gray knocked down a jumper to make it a 71-59 game. However, a comeback was not in the cards for the Matadors as the Highlanders extended their lead to 16 points on two free throws from Zyon Pullin. Playing until the final seconds, the Matadors scored the final six points with Wright wrapping up the scoring with a driving layup.

GAME NOTES
Okereke posted a new career-high with his 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go with five rebounds. Hardy led the Matadors with seven rebounds and added three assists. Rains matched his career-high in scoring with 11 points while Gray finished with nine rebounds and six rebounds. Wright has now scored in double figures in nine consecutive games.

For UCR, Tattersall scored a game-high 22 points while Pickett added 15 points. Pullin also had 13 points to go with eight assists and Cameron chipped in with 11 points.

ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"To start the game, we had four or five good looks, they didn't go down and that affected the defense. [UC Riverside] is experienced and with their ability to play inside out, they shot it extremely well and we were late on our closeouts. It seemed like every time I turned around, they were shooting. I think we got behind the eight ball from that standpoint. Our margin of error all year has been extremely slim when we get behind versus good teams. I can't fault our effort, we were in a situation down 18, we could have folded the tent and they didn't quit."

UP NEXT
CSUN wraps up a three-game homestand on Tuesday against UC Santa Barbara. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.

#UniteTheValley

Next Event

Team Stats

Atin Wright

Elijah Hardy

Fidelis Okereke

Kailen Rains

Players Mentioned

Christian Gray

Elijah Hardy

Fidelis Okereke

Kailen Rains

Atin Wright