CSUN Defeats Chicago State Behind Second Half Offensive Surge

Tuesday, November 14

Chicago, Ill.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

2-1,0-0Big West

Chicago State

1-3,0-0DI Independent

CSUN

Chicago St.

Photo by: Karen Ambrose Hickey / isiphotos.com

CSUN Defeats Chicago State Behind Second Half Offensive Surge

11/14/2023 8:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill.---CSUN Men's Basketball notched its second consecutive road win with a 74-64 triumph at Chicago State on Tuesday evening at the Jones Convocation Center. Dionte Bostick scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting while De'Sean Allen-Eikens added 18 points and five rebounds. The Matadors would shoot 64 percent in the second half and outscore Chicago State 43-29 in the period en route to victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After beginning the game with four missed shots, CSUN went 10-for-10 from the field with six different Matadors scoring baskets. During that stretch, Dionte Bostick and Jasman Sangha made a pair of shots while Mahmoud Fofana went coast-to-coast for an easy basket.

Mahmoud Fofana goes coast to coast!#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/Pdsp31eG5L
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) November 15, 2023

CSUN would build a 25-18 lead on a Keonte Jones three-point play with 7:59 left in the first period. The Cougars would battle back to within 26-23 before Bostick buried a three. From there though Chicago closed the final four-plus minutes of the first half on a 12-2 run as a late jumper from Wesley Cardet gave the Cougars a 35-31 edge at intermission.

The Matadors came out quickly to start the second half, scoring the first six points. The teams would trade leads before CSUN soared with an 8-0 run. During another key stretch, CSUN made eight-straight field goals with De'Sean Allen-Eikens capping the run with five-straight points for a Matador 59-48 lead.

Chicago State would cut into the lead with seven consecutive points, but Allen-Eikens ended the run with a jumper. The Matadors scored six unanswered once more, picking up key baskets from Bostick and Allen-Eikens to go up 67-57.

Dionte Bostick up to 16 points after the tear drop pic.twitter.com/gHKngScEQd
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) November 15, 2023

In the closing moments, Allen-Eikens scored a timely basket on a broken play where his pass was off line but he managed to pick up the loose ball and score. Jones capped the night with a breakaway dunk as CSUN led by as many as 12 points in the final seconds.

Just like coach drew it up#CSUN 69, CSU 60 - 47.1 left pic.twitter.com/PH85Up8mum
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) November 15, 2023

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN improves to 2-1 on the season with the win while Chicago State slips to 1-3.
The Matadors shot 54.5 percent for the game while Chicago State finished with a 36.5 shooting percentage. CSUN also made 2-of-10 from three (20.0 percent) and 12-of-20 from the free throw line (60.0 percent) compared to Chicago State who made 5-of-26 from three (19.2 percent) and 13-of-20 at the free throw line (65.0 percent).
The Matadors out-rebounded the Cougars 43-29 while CSUN had a 15-8 edge in assists.
CSUN also outscored Chicago State 52-32 in points in the paint.
Keonte Jones added 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with five rebounds. Jasman Sangha would have 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting off the bench. Mahmoud Fofana and Dearon Tucker led the team with seven rebounds apiece.

ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"I just thought we had toughness, and we made the plays down the stretch. Again, building off the Idaho game, making those plays like De'Sean coming up with the ball and giving it to Tuck, throwing it off his legs, then it goes back to him and he gets a big basket for us that we had to have. Those kind of plays made the game for us. It just comes down to the players making plays. We made more plays than Chicago State, we wanted it a little bit more down the stretch those last two to three minutes and came out on top."

UP NEXT
CSUN returns to action Friday afternoon for its home opener against Life Pacific at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.

#GoMatadors