Matadors Fall to UC Santa Barbara

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball trailed by two at halftime but could not slow down UC Santa Barbara in the second half as the Matadors fell 72-45 on Tuesday at The Matadome. Elijah Hardy scored a team-high 13 points while Darius Beane added 10 points. Fidelis Okereke grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds to go with seven points. The Matadors were outscored 38-13 in the second half.

CSUN (5-13, 1-5 Big West) shot 30.0 percent for the game while UCSB (8-7, 1-2 Big West) connected on 55.1 percent of its shots. The Gauchos feasted from 3-point range, making 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) compared to the Matadors who made 3-of-10 (30.0 percent). The Matadors knocked down 12-of-20 free throw attempts (60.0 percent) while the Gauchos hit 6-of-11 (54.5 percent). UCSB out-rebounded CSUN 35-26 and held a 28-20 advantage in points in the paint.

GAME BREAKDOWN
The Gauchos made four of their first five shots to build a 10-0 lead out of the gate. Christian Gray would get the Matadors' offense started with the team's first field goal at the 16:55 mark. Hardy later made back-to-back 3-pointers to help CSUN go on a 7-0 run to pull to within 14-11. Miles Norris would be the story of the half though, scoring 16 points and making 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Norris drained one of his long distance baskets at the 8:07 mark of the first half that gave the Gauchos a 26-16 lead.

The Matadors would battle back in the closing minutes of the first half beginning with a layup from Okereke. Moments later, Atin Wright scored the next four points to bring the Matadors to within four (26-22). CSUN later pulled to within one following a 3-pointer from Hardy before Norris responded with a trey of his own on the ensuing possession. In the closing seconds of the half, Darius Beane earned his way to the free throw line, scoring both, to cut the UCSB lead to 34-32 at halftime.

The second half began much like the first with the Gauchos going on an 8-0 run. Norris continued his strong shooting with back-to-back 3-pointers before Ajare Sanni scored in the lane to push the lead to double-digits. Hardy broke up the scoring string with a basket but Norris countered with two more 3-pointers as the Gauchos extended to a 48-34 lead. CSUN made 1-of-13 shots to start the half while the Gauchos stretched their lead further to 55-36 on yet another 3-pointer from Norris with eight minutes to play.

The Matadors were held to 20.8 percent shooting in the second half and would fall behind by as many as 27 points in the closing minutes. Norris made 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the final stanza for 15 points while Amadow Sow chipped in with 11.

GAME NOTES
Beane played in his first game since Jan. 1 and would go 4-of-9 from the field in 20 minutes of action. Seven of Okereke's 12 rebounds were on the offensive end. Wright finished with seven points, three rebounds and two steals.

The Matadors played without Brendan Harrick and Onyi Eyisi on Tuesday.

For UCSB, Norris had a game-high 31 points to go with five rebounds. Sow added 17 points and four rebounds while Ajay Mitchell had eight assists.

ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We've got to find a way to put together two good halves of basketball. [UCSB] is a good team, obviously they're talented and skilled. Norris, obviously, he had it going early, but the breakdowns and not being able to get to him is just so disappointing. We had some breakdowns defensively, we were in the bonus and we have guys wanting to shoot threes. We've got to do a better job of understanding you have to get to the lane, be physical and play off of two feet."

UP NEXT
CSUN makes the trek to Hawai'i for a Thursday contest at 9 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan is on the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

#UniteTheValley

Next Event

Team Stats

Elijah Hardy

Darius Beane

Atin Wright

Fidelis Okereke

Players Mentioned

Darius Beane

Onyi Eyisi

Christian Gray

Elijah Hardy

Brendan Harrick

Fidelis Okereke

Atin Wright