Thursday, January 26
Northridge, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
4-17,1-9Big West
57
vs
65
UC San Diego
8-13,3-6Big West
1
2
F
UC San Diego
33
32
65
CSUN
28
29
57
Photo by: Cassandra Elena Yra
Matadors Can't Overcome Tough Shooting Night in Loss to UCSD
1/26/2023 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball suffered a 65-57 setback to UC San Diego on Thursday at Premier America Credit Union Arena. Atin Wright scored a team-high 18 points to go with two steals. Marcel Stevens and Cam Slaymaker scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench.
The Matadors began the game 1-of-8 from the field while the Tritons opened up an 11-2 lead out of the gate. CSUN's second unit would give the Matadors energy leading to a 12-2 run. After a Fidelis Okereke jumper, Wright knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give CSUN a 14-13 edge. Cam Slaymaker also sank a shot from long range giving CSUN what would be its biggest lead of the night at 17-15 with 10:05 to play in the first half.
The Tritons though surged back in front behind the play of Bryce Pope who scored nine consecutive points. Stevens ended the 9-0 run with a three but Vuk Vulikic answered with a basket for a 26-20 UCSD lead. CSUN fell behind by eight before responding with five-straight points including a three from De'Sean Allen-Eikens to pull to within 30-27. However, UCSD stayed in front as Jace Roquemore knocked down a late three to send the visitors into intermission with a 33-28 lead.
An early 9-2 run for the Tritons quickly extended their lead to 48-34 to kick off the second half. The Matadors were unable to cut the lead to single digits for most of the second half as the Tritons found their shot from long range, hitting 5-of-9 in the second period. In contrast, the Matadors missed their first 10 attempts from 3-point range in the second half, eventually finishing 1-of-11.
Francis Nwaokorie stretched the Triton lead to their biggest of the night at 55-40 with 8:44 left to play. Near the four-minute mark, the Matadors would make one final push as Wright nailed a jump shot then Stevens picked up a steal leading to basket to cut the deficit to 11. Stevens later made it a 62-52 game with 2:35 left to play but the Matadors were unable to convert on another field goal for nearly two minutes.
Slaymaker made the Matadors' lone 3-point basket of the second half with 34 seconds remaining that cut the lead to 63-55. Moments later, Arman Pezeshkian forced a UCSD turnover leading to Stevens drawing a foul and making two free throws to pull the Matadors to within six. However, a late comeback was not in the cards as UCSD made a pair of insurance free throws and held on in the closing seconds.
GAME NOTES
CSUN (4-17, 1-9 Big West) shot 33.3 percent for the game while making 6-of-25 from 3-point range (24.0 percent) and 11-of-12 at the free throw line (91.7 percent). UC San Diego (8-13, 3-6 Big West) would finish 44.2 percent from the floor to go with 8-of-17 shooting from three (47.1 percent) and 11-of-13 at the foul line (84.6 percent). The Tritons out-rebounded the Matadors 39-33. CSUN finished with a season-high 13 steals.
Fidelis Okereke registered seven rebounds and seven points off the bench. Marcel Stevens posted five steals and four assists to go with his 11 points.
For UCSD, Bryce Pope had a game-high 20 points.
ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We didn't play very well. We got off to a horrible start. I wish I could say I was surprised. We found out how important Dionte Bostick is to our basketball team. Everybody else had the opportunity to make plays. It's really hard to find any bright spots because at the half it was 20-2 in the paint. They bounced it on us, the rebound differential was a plus-10. The glaring thing was we had two fouls. Usually in that situation it says you are not playing very hard and not reacting to a lot of things going on. Tip your hat to UC San Diego. They made some plays. I wish I could have said we played well."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to the road on Saturday night to take on UC Irvine. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.Â
#UniteTheValley
Â
The Matadors began the game 1-of-8 from the field while the Tritons opened up an 11-2 lead out of the gate. CSUN's second unit would give the Matadors energy leading to a 12-2 run. After a Fidelis Okereke jumper, Wright knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give CSUN a 14-13 edge. Cam Slaymaker also sank a shot from long range giving CSUN what would be its biggest lead of the night at 17-15 with 10:05 to play in the first half.
The Tritons though surged back in front behind the play of Bryce Pope who scored nine consecutive points. Stevens ended the 9-0 run with a three but Vuk Vulikic answered with a basket for a 26-20 UCSD lead. CSUN fell behind by eight before responding with five-straight points including a three from De'Sean Allen-Eikens to pull to within 30-27. However, UCSD stayed in front as Jace Roquemore knocked down a late three to send the visitors into intermission with a 33-28 lead.
An early 9-2 run for the Tritons quickly extended their lead to 48-34 to kick off the second half. The Matadors were unable to cut the lead to single digits for most of the second half as the Tritons found their shot from long range, hitting 5-of-9 in the second period. In contrast, the Matadors missed their first 10 attempts from 3-point range in the second half, eventually finishing 1-of-11.
Francis Nwaokorie stretched the Triton lead to their biggest of the night at 55-40 with 8:44 left to play. Near the four-minute mark, the Matadors would make one final push as Wright nailed a jump shot then Stevens picked up a steal leading to basket to cut the deficit to 11. Stevens later made it a 62-52 game with 2:35 left to play but the Matadors were unable to convert on another field goal for nearly two minutes.
Slaymaker made the Matadors' lone 3-point basket of the second half with 34 seconds remaining that cut the lead to 63-55. Moments later, Arman Pezeshkian forced a UCSD turnover leading to Stevens drawing a foul and making two free throws to pull the Matadors to within six. However, a late comeback was not in the cards as UCSD made a pair of insurance free throws and held on in the closing seconds.
GAME NOTES
CSUN (4-17, 1-9 Big West) shot 33.3 percent for the game while making 6-of-25 from 3-point range (24.0 percent) and 11-of-12 at the free throw line (91.7 percent). UC San Diego (8-13, 3-6 Big West) would finish 44.2 percent from the floor to go with 8-of-17 shooting from three (47.1 percent) and 11-of-13 at the foul line (84.6 percent). The Tritons out-rebounded the Matadors 39-33. CSUN finished with a season-high 13 steals.
Fidelis Okereke registered seven rebounds and seven points off the bench. Marcel Stevens posted five steals and four assists to go with his 11 points.
For UCSD, Bryce Pope had a game-high 20 points.
ACCORDING TO COACH TRENT JOHNSON
"We didn't play very well. We got off to a horrible start. I wish I could say I was surprised. We found out how important Dionte Bostick is to our basketball team. Everybody else had the opportunity to make plays. It's really hard to find any bright spots because at the half it was 20-2 in the paint. They bounced it on us, the rebound differential was a plus-10. The glaring thing was we had two fouls. Usually in that situation it says you are not playing very hard and not reacting to a lot of things going on. Tip your hat to UC San Diego. They made some plays. I wish I could have said we played well."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to the road on Saturday night to take on UC Irvine. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.Â
#UniteTheValley
Â
Team Stats
UCSD
CSUN
FG%
.442
.333
3FG%
.471
.240
FT%
.846
.917
RB
39
33
TO
19
13
STL
4
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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