Matadors Drop Close Battle at UCSB, 70-61

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (7-21, 3-12 Big West) gave the reigning Big West champion UC Santa Barbara (15-10, 7-5 Big West) a battle for 40 minutes but fell 70-61 on Tuesday at the Thunderdome. Elijah Hardy led the Matadors with 15 points and four assists. Onyi Eyisi posted 12 points and four rebounds and Atin Wright added 11 points and five steals.

CSUN shot 46.3 percent from the field while UC Santa Barbara finished with a 55.3 shooting percentage. The Matadors made 6-of-17 3-point shots (35.3 percent) compared to the Gauchos who made 4-of-13 (30.8 percent). UCSB earned 20 free throws on the night, making 14 (70.0 percent) while CSUN hit 5-of-9 (55.6 percent). The Gauchos led in the rebounding department, 32-24, and in points in the paint, 40-26.

The Matadors surrendered the first four points to start the game before battling to take a 7-6 lead on an Onyi Eyisi layup. Amadou Sow scored the Gauchos' first 10 points while UCSB went on a 9-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. After Eyisi's basket, the Matadors went scoreless for six minutes but managed to fight back behind hustle on both ends of the floor. At the 11-minute mark, Wright forced a steal and missed a drive to the hoop but Miles James hustled back to make a putback layup. The lead stood at nine points when Kailen Rains drained a 3-point shot then James threw down a dunk off the baseline to cut the UCSB lead to 20-16.

The Gauchos pushed the lead to eight on a jumper from Ajay Mitchell before the Matadors answered with back-to-back baskets from Darius Beane and James. Hardy converted on a late 3-point play but UCSB went into halftime leading by a 31-25 margin on a jumper from Sekou Toure.

CSUN would continue to battle at the start of the second half, scoring the first four points. Eyisi ran the floor on a CSUN steal to finish on the other end via a pass from James to pull the Matadors to within 31-29. The Gauchos though put together an 11-3 run, capped by a basket from Sow to extend to a 42-32 lead. After a tough shooting first half, Wright began to find his shot in the second half. Wright converted on a 3-point play near the 12-minute mark then he would drain a 3-pointer two minutes later to pull the Matadors to within 49-42. He also knocked down a pull-up jumper to make it a seven-point game but UCSB answered with six in a row.

The Matadors looked up at a 13-point deficit with seven minutes to play before making one final push in the remaining minutes. Fidelis Okereke helped start a 9-2 Matador run that trimmed the deficit to 59-53. UCSB responded with a Calvin Wishart layup but Eyisi scored for the Matadors on a putback layup to once again pull CSUN to within six. The Matadors entered the final minute down six points before a pivotal three-point play from Mitchell on an offensive rebound. Wright knocked down another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 66-60 with 40 seconds to play but the Matadors would not pull closer the rest of the way.

GAME NOTES
Hardy shot 6-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Eyisi made 6-of-9 in the game while three of his four rebounds were on the offensive end. James finished with nine points and eight rebounds. All 11 of Wright's points were scored in the second half. Beane would score six points on 3-of-3 shooting.

For UCSB, Sow scored a game-high 26 points while Mitchell had 17 points.

ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We played hard for 40 minutes, I thought there were some good things we did. I can't fault the guys' effort. When you are in situations where you have a breakdown here or there, good teams take advantage of it. But I liked their fight tonight. I liked what we did from the standpoint when we executed we got good looks. We had some defensive breakdowns but they're talented and they took advantage of it."

UP NEXT
CSUN concludes the regular season with a Senior Night match-up with Hawai'i on Saturday at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio. Fans are encouraged to come early as the Matadors will honor their senior class in a pre-game ceremony.

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Team Stats

Elijah Hardy

Onyi Eyisi

Atin Wright

Miles James

Players Mentioned

Darius Beane

Onyi Eyisi

Elijah Hardy

Miles James

Fidelis Okereke

Kailen Rains

Atin Wright