Saturday, January 25
La Jolla, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
13-7,5-4Big West
54
at
79
UC San Diego
17-4,7-2Big West
1
2
F
CSUN
22
32
54
UC San Diego
41
38
79
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Falls on the Road at UC San Diego
1/25/2025 9:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LA JOLLA, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball suffered a 79-54 loss at UC San Diego on Saturday at LionTree Arena. Scotty Washington led the way with 17 points while Marcus Adams Jr. finished with 15 points and five rebounds. The Tritons led from start to finish as the Matadors could not shake off a tough night from the field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN committed four turnovers over its first six possessions as UCSD took advantage for an early 6-0 lead to start. Adams finally put the Matadors on the scoreboard at the 17:35 mark with a layup. A Washington three began a 7-3 spurt for the Matadors, cutting the Triton lead to 11-9. CSUN picked up four consecutive defensive stops but could not make take advantage offensively. Moments later, Tyler McGhie ended the string with a three. UCSD led 16-12 with 11:11 left in the first half before McGhie scored the next eight points. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones kept the run going with five-straight points before Maximo Milovich capped a 15-0 run with a layup to put CSUN in a 31-12 hole. The Matadors went eight full minutes without a field goal until Keonte Jones scored in the paint, but by that time it was a 34-15 deficit with 3:01 on the clock. Tait-Jones would give the Tritons a 22-point lead at the 1:45 mark before late baskets from Mahmoud Fofana and Adams put CSUN within 41-22 at halftime.
Out of intermission, Washington scored the first five points to bring CSUN closer at 41-27. Once again, the Matadors picked up four consecutive defensive stops, but the Tritons countered by holding CSUN scoreless over that span. Tait-Jones ended the dry spell, which began a 7-0 UCSD run. The Matadors would be looking up at a big deficit the rest of the way, but kept on battling down the stretch. Tyler Beard drained a three to cut the deficit to 51-33 with 13:48 to play before an Adams layup pulled CSUN closer to within 16. At the 11:26 mark, Washington started a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 53-41 before the Tritons answered once more with an 8-1 run, closed by a McGhie three. Nordin Kapic knocked down a three of his own with five minutes remaining, pushing the lead past 20 points again. Jones followed with a basket on the ensuing possession, but CSUN never got closer the rest of the way.
NOTES OF THE GAME
"All three areas of the game that we really pride ourselves in, defense, rebounding and playing together, all three were non-existent today. One of those day where we were awful in all three aspects. When you play a good team and you play awful like that, the score is going to resemble that."
UP NEXT
CSUN will play on the road next Thursday, Jan. 30 at UC San Diego. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN committed four turnovers over its first six possessions as UCSD took advantage for an early 6-0 lead to start. Adams finally put the Matadors on the scoreboard at the 17:35 mark with a layup. A Washington three began a 7-3 spurt for the Matadors, cutting the Triton lead to 11-9. CSUN picked up four consecutive defensive stops but could not make take advantage offensively. Moments later, Tyler McGhie ended the string with a three. UCSD led 16-12 with 11:11 left in the first half before McGhie scored the next eight points. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones kept the run going with five-straight points before Maximo Milovich capped a 15-0 run with a layup to put CSUN in a 31-12 hole. The Matadors went eight full minutes without a field goal until Keonte Jones scored in the paint, but by that time it was a 34-15 deficit with 3:01 on the clock. Tait-Jones would give the Tritons a 22-point lead at the 1:45 mark before late baskets from Mahmoud Fofana and Adams put CSUN within 41-22 at halftime.
Out of intermission, Washington scored the first five points to bring CSUN closer at 41-27. Once again, the Matadors picked up four consecutive defensive stops, but the Tritons countered by holding CSUN scoreless over that span. Tait-Jones ended the dry spell, which began a 7-0 UCSD run. The Matadors would be looking up at a big deficit the rest of the way, but kept on battling down the stretch. Tyler Beard drained a three to cut the deficit to 51-33 with 13:48 to play before an Adams layup pulled CSUN closer to within 16. At the 11:26 mark, Washington started a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 53-41 before the Tritons answered once more with an 8-1 run, closed by a McGhie three. Nordin Kapic knocked down a three of his own with five minutes remaining, pushing the lead past 20 points again. Jones followed with a basket on the ensuing possession, but CSUN never got closer the rest of the way.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN drops to 13-7 overall and 5-4 in Big West play while UC San Diego improves to 17-4 overall and 7-2 in conference.
- The Matadors finished shooting a season-low 32.8 percent from the field while they made 2-of-14 from three (14.3 percent) and 12-of-18 from the free throw line (66.7 percent). The Tritons shot 45.0 percent overall while making 11-of-30 threes (36.7 percent) and 14-of-17 free throws (82.4 percent).
- CSUN held a 42-34 advantage in rebounds.
- Each side totaled 32 points in the paint.
- Jones finished with a team-high 10 rebounds and three steals to go with seven points. Beard had six points and five assists off the bench.
- UCSD's Tait-Jones had a game-high 32 points.
"All three areas of the game that we really pride ourselves in, defense, rebounding and playing together, all three were non-existent today. One of those day where we were awful in all three aspects. When you play a good team and you play awful like that, the score is going to resemble that."
UP NEXT
CSUN will play on the road next Thursday, Jan. 30 at UC San Diego. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
CSUN
UCSD
FG%
.328
.450
3FG%
.143
.367
FT%
.667
.824
RB
42
34
TO
17
13
STL
6
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG/F
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