Saturday, February 17
Northridge, Calif.
5:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
17-10,8-7Big West
73
vs
87
Long Beach State
17-9,9-5Big West
1
2
F
Long Beach St.
35
52
87
CSUN
36
37
73
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
Second-Half Surge Lifts LBSU Over CSUN
2/17/2024 8:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball had its four-game win streak snapped by Long Beach State in an 87-73 loss on Saturday at Premier America Credit Union Arena. De'Sean Allen-Eikens scored a team-high 21 points to go with five assists while Dionte Bostick had 18 points. The Matadors took a one-point lead into halftime, but the Beach would score 52 points in the second half alone to pull away.
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN jumped on the Beach in the early going, racing out to a 12-2 lead over the first four-plus minutes of the game. Moments later, Dearon Tucker and Keonte Jones converted on baskets to push the lead even further to 16-4. The Beach would put together a 7-2 run to cut the CSUN lead to 20-15, but Gianni Hunt responded with a jumper. Mahmoud Fofana and Allen-Eikens scored back-to-back baskets to extend the lead to 26-18 with 7:35 left in the first half. Shortly thereafter, Bostick was whistled for his third foul, forcing him to the bench. The Beach again surged with a 7-2 run to pull to within 28-25. After CSUN extended to a 34-27 lead on a 6-2 spurt, the Beach scored the next seven with Lassina Traore tying the game up at 34-34. A late basket from Allen-Eikens did help CSUN take a slim 36-35 lead into intermission.
After halftime, the Matadors had six consecutive empty possessions while the Beach capitalized with a 9-0 run out of the gate. The Matadors battled back to within five points twice, but the Beach responded with a 13-0 run, capped by an AJ George basket. CSUN made a quick surge to pull to within 65-52 on a three from Hunt at the 8:36 mark. From there though, Aboubacar Traore scored on the inside following a scramble on a loose ball then Messiah Thompson and Jadon Jones followed with threes. Jones hit six threes on the night including another at the 5:13 mark while he made three-straight free throws after being fouled to extend the lead to the biggest of the night at 81-55.
CSUN would show little quit down the stretch despite the big deficit. Bostick helped spark a 13-2 run with a pair of threes to trim the lead to 83-68 with 2:39 left to play. Ndjonga drained another three and Bostick closed the scoring on the night with a late basket, but the Beach prevailed by double-digits.
NOTES OF THE GAME
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"That's why basketball is such a great sport. It rewards the teams that deserve it. When we played them the first time, we got every ball and we beat them. Tonight, they got every ball and they beat us. These are tough lessons to be on this side of the learning curve, but it's just basketball.
"They made a lot of shots in the second half. I think our close outs were bad. We just got really soft. Dionte being in foul trouble had a lot to do with that. You can't be as aggressive on your close outs when you're in foul trouble. Same thing with Keonte."
UP NEXT
CSUN stays at home to take on UC Davis next Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN jumped on the Beach in the early going, racing out to a 12-2 lead over the first four-plus minutes of the game. Moments later, Dearon Tucker and Keonte Jones converted on baskets to push the lead even further to 16-4. The Beach would put together a 7-2 run to cut the CSUN lead to 20-15, but Gianni Hunt responded with a jumper. Mahmoud Fofana and Allen-Eikens scored back-to-back baskets to extend the lead to 26-18 with 7:35 left in the first half. Shortly thereafter, Bostick was whistled for his third foul, forcing him to the bench. The Beach again surged with a 7-2 run to pull to within 28-25. After CSUN extended to a 34-27 lead on a 6-2 spurt, the Beach scored the next seven with Lassina Traore tying the game up at 34-34. A late basket from Allen-Eikens did help CSUN take a slim 36-35 lead into intermission.
After halftime, the Matadors had six consecutive empty possessions while the Beach capitalized with a 9-0 run out of the gate. The Matadors battled back to within five points twice, but the Beach responded with a 13-0 run, capped by an AJ George basket. CSUN made a quick surge to pull to within 65-52 on a three from Hunt at the 8:36 mark. From there though, Aboubacar Traore scored on the inside following a scramble on a loose ball then Messiah Thompson and Jadon Jones followed with threes. Jones hit six threes on the night including another at the 5:13 mark while he made three-straight free throws after being fouled to extend the lead to the biggest of the night at 81-55.
CSUN would show little quit down the stretch despite the big deficit. Bostick helped spark a 13-2 run with a pair of threes to trim the lead to 83-68 with 2:39 left to play. Ndjonga drained another three and Bostick closed the scoring on the night with a late basket, but the Beach prevailed by double-digits.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN slips to 17-10 overall and 8-7 in Big West play while Long Beach State improves to 17-9 overall and 9-5 in conference.
- The Matadors shot 41.9 percent from the floor while going 7-of-26 from three (26.9 percent) and 14-of-19 from the free throw line (73.7 percent). In contrast, the Beach shot 47.0 percent for the game while making 9-of-26 from three (34.6 percent) and 16-of-23 from the free throw line (69.6 percent).
- The Beach out-rebounded the Matadors 40-37. Each side had 34 points in the paint.
- Mahmoud Fofana led CSUN in rebounds with 10 to go with eight points.
- Bryan Ndjonga tied a season-high with 11 points off the bench to go with two assists.
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"That's why basketball is such a great sport. It rewards the teams that deserve it. When we played them the first time, we got every ball and we beat them. Tonight, they got every ball and they beat us. These are tough lessons to be on this side of the learning curve, but it's just basketball.
"They made a lot of shots in the second half. I think our close outs were bad. We just got really soft. Dionte being in foul trouble had a lot to do with that. You can't be as aggressive on your close outs when you're in foul trouble. Same thing with Keonte."
UP NEXT
CSUN stays at home to take on UC Davis next Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
LBSU
CSUN
FG%
.470
.419
3FG%
.346
.269
FT%
.696
.737
RB
40
37
TO
11
16
STL
8
6
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
C
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