Saturday, December 31
Fullerton, Calif.
4:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
3-10,0-2Big West
52
at
64
Cal State Fullerton
7-7,1-1Big West
1
2
F
CSUN
19
33
52
Cal St. Fullerton
25
39
64
Photo by: Cassandra Elena Yra
Matadors Fall at Cal State Fullerton
12/31/2022 6:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
FULLERTON, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball suffered a 64-52 defeat on Saturday at Titan Gym. Atin Wright led the way with 13 points while De'Sean Allen-EIkens added 10 points and seven rebounds. In a game where both teams shot below 40 percent from the field, the Matadors got off to a slow start and were unable to catch the Titans in the closing minutes of the game.
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Cal State Fullerton raced out to an 11-0 lead, capitalizing on nine consecutive CSUN misses from the floor. After seven-plus minutes without a point, De'Sean Allen-Eikens put the Matadors on the scoreboard at the 12:30 mark of the first half. Despite shooting just 27.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Matadors would chip away at the lead behind their play on the defensive end. CSUN pulled to within 14-9 following four-straight Titan missed shots.
Ethan Igbanugo later scored four-straight Matador points to bring CSUN to within three at 20-17 with five minutes to play. However, Fullerton went on a 5-0 run to quickly extend the lead to eight. Dionte Bostick scored the final basket of the first half after a John Wade III steal to make it a 25-19 game at intermission.
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Wright, who went scoreless in the first half, helped shoulder the load offensively in the second half. The 6-1 guard opened the half with a bucket before the Titans scored the next six to go in front by a 31-21 margin. CSUN though battled back as Wright scored five-straight CSUN points then Allen-Eikens found the bottom of the net on a drive to pull CSUN to within six (37-31).
With 12:29 left to play and CSUN down 40-33, the Matadors picked up four consecutive defensive stops but could not take advantage on the offensive end over that span. The Titans soon extended to a double-digit lead on a Vincent Lee basket at the 9:35 mark of the second half. Max Jones knocked down a 3-pointer to push the Fullerton lead to 50-37 before the Matadors made one final push with an 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Wright.
Cal State Fullerton though answered the Matadors' run with seven consecutive points as Latrell Wrightsell Jr. drained a trey to give the home team a 57-45 lead. Over the last three minutes, the Matadors were unable to get the deficit under single digits while the Titans made key baskets to secure the victory.
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GAME NOTES
Both teams nearly shot an identical percentage from the field as CSUN shot 36.8 percent and Cal State Fullerton finished with a 36.7 shooting percentage. The Matadors though made 6-of-19 from 3-point range (31.6 percent) compared to the Titans who converted on 12-of-31 3-pointers (38.7 percent). Fullerton also posted a 41-35 edge in the rebounding department. CSUN would lead in bench points, 15-8.
Dionte Bostick finished with nine points, four rebounds and two assists while Ethan Igbanugo had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench.
For Fullerton, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds.
ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"With the effort and tenacity in which we played with tonight, if we would have played like that [on Thursday] as much as I don't like to reflect on the past, we would have split [this week]. We had great energy. We had contributions from a lot of people. We've been working on a zone and obviously, I had concerns going into this game that when you're in a zone you don't have an opportunity to put a body on a guy. They hurt us with that early. But with the way they bounce it in their guard play and their strengths and their competitiveness, that's the only way we could have played them tonight and give ourselves a chance to win. We competed like crazy. The ball just didn't go down for us in the first half but our guys continued to compete."
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UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Premier America Credit Union Arena for its home Big West opener against Long Beach State on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. The Matadors will honor the late Nick Herrmann with an on-court ceremony. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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#UniteTheValley
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Cal State Fullerton raced out to an 11-0 lead, capitalizing on nine consecutive CSUN misses from the floor. After seven-plus minutes without a point, De'Sean Allen-Eikens put the Matadors on the scoreboard at the 12:30 mark of the first half. Despite shooting just 27.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Matadors would chip away at the lead behind their play on the defensive end. CSUN pulled to within 14-9 following four-straight Titan missed shots.
Ethan Igbanugo later scored four-straight Matador points to bring CSUN to within three at 20-17 with five minutes to play. However, Fullerton went on a 5-0 run to quickly extend the lead to eight. Dionte Bostick scored the final basket of the first half after a John Wade III steal to make it a 25-19 game at intermission.
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Wright, who went scoreless in the first half, helped shoulder the load offensively in the second half. The 6-1 guard opened the half with a bucket before the Titans scored the next six to go in front by a 31-21 margin. CSUN though battled back as Wright scored five-straight CSUN points then Allen-Eikens found the bottom of the net on a drive to pull CSUN to within six (37-31).
With 12:29 left to play and CSUN down 40-33, the Matadors picked up four consecutive defensive stops but could not take advantage on the offensive end over that span. The Titans soon extended to a double-digit lead on a Vincent Lee basket at the 9:35 mark of the second half. Max Jones knocked down a 3-pointer to push the Fullerton lead to 50-37 before the Matadors made one final push with an 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Wright.
Cal State Fullerton though answered the Matadors' run with seven consecutive points as Latrell Wrightsell Jr. drained a trey to give the home team a 57-45 lead. Over the last three minutes, the Matadors were unable to get the deficit under single digits while the Titans made key baskets to secure the victory.
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GAME NOTES
Both teams nearly shot an identical percentage from the field as CSUN shot 36.8 percent and Cal State Fullerton finished with a 36.7 shooting percentage. The Matadors though made 6-of-19 from 3-point range (31.6 percent) compared to the Titans who converted on 12-of-31 3-pointers (38.7 percent). Fullerton also posted a 41-35 edge in the rebounding department. CSUN would lead in bench points, 15-8.
Dionte Bostick finished with nine points, four rebounds and two assists while Ethan Igbanugo had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench.
For Fullerton, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds.
ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"With the effort and tenacity in which we played with tonight, if we would have played like that [on Thursday] as much as I don't like to reflect on the past, we would have split [this week]. We had great energy. We had contributions from a lot of people. We've been working on a zone and obviously, I had concerns going into this game that when you're in a zone you don't have an opportunity to put a body on a guy. They hurt us with that early. But with the way they bounce it in their guard play and their strengths and their competitiveness, that's the only way we could have played them tonight and give ourselves a chance to win. We competed like crazy. The ball just didn't go down for us in the first half but our guys continued to compete."
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Premier America Credit Union Arena for its home Big West opener against Long Beach State on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. The Matadors will honor the late Nick Herrmann with an on-court ceremony. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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#UniteTheValley
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Team Stats
CSUN
CSF
FG%
.368
.367
3FG%
.316
.387
FT%
.800
.889
RB
35
41
TO
12
11
STL
6
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
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