Saturday, December 28
Northridge, Calif.
6:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
9-4,1-1Big West
87
vs
52
La Sierra
0-10
1
2
F
La Sierra
36
16
52
CSUN
34
53
87
Photo by: Connor Clark
CSUN Pulls Away in Second Half Against La Sierra
12/28/2024 8:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball rode another big second half to an 82-57 victory over La Sierra on Saturday evening at Premier America Credit Union Arena. Keonte Jones posted his seventh double-double of the season, registering 20 points and 10 rebounds while Marcus Adams Jr. added 17 points and six rebounds. The Matadors outscored the Golden Eagles 53-16 in the second half after trailing at intermission.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Matadors would play in a back-and-forth affair with La Sierra in the first half with five total lead changes and seven ties. CSUN built an early 10-5 lead on five-straight points from Scotty Washington before eventually going on an 8-0 run to lead 18-8 after a dunk from Adams at the 14:19 mark. La Sierra though didn't go away in the first half. Out of a timeout, the Golden Eagles scored nine consecutive points to pull to within one. The Matadors held a slim 22-19 edge with under 12 minutes on the clock, but the Golden Eagles drew even on a three from Noel Camejo. Festus Ndumanya gave the Matadors the lead back on layup, but CSUN then went four minutes without a point. During that span, La Sierra pulled in front as Maur Tablada made it a 26-24 game with 7:50 left before halftime. The Matadors fell behind 33-30 before scoring the next four points, courtesy of Jones and Grady Lewis. However, another scoring drought, which lasted nearly three minutes, gave La Sierra an opportunity to lead at the break as Anthony Montoya drained a three for a 36-34 Golden Eagle lead.
Out of intermission, the Matadors would flip the script in the second half against La Sierra. CSUN turned to its defense, producing five consecutive stops to begin the period. Adams gave CSUN the lead early in the second half on a traditional three-point play while Mahmoud Fofana followed with a dunk after a Jones steal. Another steal from PJ Fuller II led to an Adams layup that suddenly gave CSUN a 42-36 lead. Camejo stopped the Matador run with a layup, but CSUN scored the next five points as Jordan Brinson pushed the lead to 47-39 on a layup. An Adams' block led to a Jones dunk in transition to push the lead further at 51-41 with 15:45 left to play.
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CSUN though was from done as Fuller converted on a three-point play after a La Sierra foul while Jones threw down another dunk to close a Matador 14-0 run and extend the lead to 61-41. Robert Finklea stopped the scoring spree with a layup to pull the Golden Eagles to within 18, but that would be the closest La Sierra would get the rest of the way. The Matadors held the opposition scoreless over a six-plus minute stretch, giving CSUN a chance to execute a 16-0 run to stretch the lead even further at 82-47 with 2:14 left to play. CSUN led by as many as 38 points on a Sabien Cain three in the closing minutes. While outscoring La Sierra 53-16 in the second half, CSUN also shot 60.0 percent in the period and held the Golden Eagles to 25.0 percent shooting from the floor.
NOTES OF THE GAME
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"I think these guys want to set the record for the most comebacks in school history. It was two different teams [tonight]. We knew we were going to shake off the rust from Christmas. We didn't think it was going to take us 20 minutes. I'm glad it's off and we could move forward now, get excited to play Fullerton at Fullerton next week and hopefully have a really good league season."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Big West play on Jan. 2, 2025 when the Matadors visit Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Matadors would play in a back-and-forth affair with La Sierra in the first half with five total lead changes and seven ties. CSUN built an early 10-5 lead on five-straight points from Scotty Washington before eventually going on an 8-0 run to lead 18-8 after a dunk from Adams at the 14:19 mark. La Sierra though didn't go away in the first half. Out of a timeout, the Golden Eagles scored nine consecutive points to pull to within one. The Matadors held a slim 22-19 edge with under 12 minutes on the clock, but the Golden Eagles drew even on a three from Noel Camejo. Festus Ndumanya gave the Matadors the lead back on layup, but CSUN then went four minutes without a point. During that span, La Sierra pulled in front as Maur Tablada made it a 26-24 game with 7:50 left before halftime. The Matadors fell behind 33-30 before scoring the next four points, courtesy of Jones and Grady Lewis. However, another scoring drought, which lasted nearly three minutes, gave La Sierra an opportunity to lead at the break as Anthony Montoya drained a three for a 36-34 Golden Eagle lead.
Out of intermission, the Matadors would flip the script in the second half against La Sierra. CSUN turned to its defense, producing five consecutive stops to begin the period. Adams gave CSUN the lead early in the second half on a traditional three-point play while Mahmoud Fofana followed with a dunk after a Jones steal. Another steal from PJ Fuller II led to an Adams layup that suddenly gave CSUN a 42-36 lead. Camejo stopped the Matador run with a layup, but CSUN scored the next five points as Jordan Brinson pushed the lead to 47-39 on a layup. An Adams' block led to a Jones dunk in transition to push the lead further at 51-41 with 15:45 left to play.
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Adams steal. Keonte dunk.
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) December 29, 2024
CSUN now leads by 10!#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/YjTAGCVVLP
CSUN though was from done as Fuller converted on a three-point play after a La Sierra foul while Jones threw down another dunk to close a Matador 14-0 run and extend the lead to 61-41. Robert Finklea stopped the scoring spree with a layup to pull the Golden Eagles to within 18, but that would be the closest La Sierra would get the rest of the way. The Matadors held the opposition scoreless over a six-plus minute stretch, giving CSUN a chance to execute a 16-0 run to stretch the lead even further at 82-47 with 2:14 left to play. CSUN led by as many as 38 points on a Sabien Cain three in the closing minutes. While outscoring La Sierra 53-16 in the second half, CSUN also shot 60.0 percent in the period and held the Golden Eagles to 25.0 percent shooting from the floor.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN improves to 9-4 on the season while La Sierra drops to 0-16.
- The Matadors finished shooting 50.7 percent for the game while going 5-of-21 from three (23.8 percent) and 10-of-18 at the free throw line (55.6 percent). In contrast, La Sierra shot 35.0 percent overall while making 8-of-28 threes (28.6 percent) and 2-of-5 free throws.
- CSUN won the rebounding battle, 48-30, and held a sizeable advantage in points in the paint, 62-18.
- The Matadors now have five come-from-behind wins after trailing at halftime this season.
- Fofana also scored in double figures, scoring 14 points with three steals while Lewis added 12 points and six rebounds.
- In addition to his double-double, Jones totaled five assists, three steals and one block to go with 8-of-11 shooting from the floor.
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"I think these guys want to set the record for the most comebacks in school history. It was two different teams [tonight]. We knew we were going to shake off the rust from Christmas. We didn't think it was going to take us 20 minutes. I'm glad it's off and we could move forward now, get excited to play Fullerton at Fullerton next week and hopefully have a really good league season."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Big West play on Jan. 2, 2025 when the Matadors visit Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
LSU
CSUN
FG%
.350
.507
3FG%
.286
.238
FT%
.400
.556
RB
30
48
TO
16
8
STL
5
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF/C
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
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