Saturday, January 4
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
11-4,3-1Big West
73
vs
61
UC Davis
8-7,2-2Big West
1
2
F
UC Davis
25
36
61
CSUN
34
39
73
Photo by: Connor Clark
CSUN Wins Fourth Straight, Knocks Off UC Davis, 73-61
1/4/2025 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---Behind career performances from Marcus Adams Jr. and Keonte Jones, CSUN Men's Basketball defeated UC Davis 73-61 for its fourth consecutive victory on Saturday at Premier America Credit Union Arena. Adams poured in a career-best 28 points to go with seven rebounds and two blocks while Jones tallied a personal-best 20 rebounds with 13 points and six assists. The Matadors led nearly from start to finish and by as many as 15 points in the second half.
Jones' 20 rebounds are the most by a Matador since 2008 and the second-most in the team's Division I era.
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN established itself inside from the outset with layups from Mahmoud Fofana and Adams for an early 4-0 lead. The Aggies though converted on their first two threes and held a 9-6 lead at the four-minute mark of the game. From there though, the Matadors went on an 8-0 run with Fofana and PJ Fuller II scoring in the paint. CSUN would take a 16-11 lead on another layup, this time from Jones with 11:58 left in the first half. Near the 10-minute mark, CSUN completed an 8-0 run with Adams scoring six of those points, all from beyond the 3-point arc for a 26-14 lead. The Aggies would battle back to within seven with five minutes in the first half, but CSUN did not allow another field goal for the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, the Matadors went on a 6-0 spurt with Scotty Washington making it a 34-21 game on basket in the paint. The Aggies though went into the break trailing only by a 34-25 margin after making four consecutive free throws in the final 1:43.
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Out of intermission, Fofana put the Matadors back ahead by double digits with a layup, which was assisted by Jones. Fofana scored again at the 17:43 mark for a CSUN 40-28 lead, but the Aggies recorded the next six points, pulling to within 40-34 on a TY Johnson free throw. On the ensuing possession, Fofana converted in the paint while Adams followed with a big dunk off a feed from Fofana to quickly push the lead back to double digits, 44-34.
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CSUN leaned on Adams' hot shooting from the outside as the sophomore made three consecutive threes during a key stretch to extend the lead to 55-40 with 11:57 left to play. In fact, Adams scored 11 consecutive Matador points to help keep the lead at double digits. The Matadors also received timely rebounding throughout the second half from Jones who tallied 12 of his 20 boards in the final stanza. Jones also converted on a tough and-one drive to the basket to give CSUN a 60-46 advantage with 6:13 on the clock. The Aggies would mount one final rally, pulling to within 10 on a three from Isaiah Chappell with under three minutes to go. However, the Matadors had an answer as Jones found Fuller for a corner three on the next possession. With a minute to go, Jones pulled down an offensive rebound and scored inside, plus a foul, to help put the game out of reach.
NOTES OF THE GAME
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"It was really fun to see these guys compete. That was an incredible defensive performance and that's two games in a row now. If we keep this up, we're going to be tough.
"[Today's win] was huge. Coach Les is an established coach and a mentor of mine, and if I could have half the career he's had, I'd be really happy. It's always fun when you beat a really good team that's really well coached and that's what we did tonight."
UP NEXT
CSUN continues a two-game homestand when the Matadors host UC Irvine on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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Jones' 20 rebounds are the most by a Matador since 2008 and the second-most in the team's Division I era.
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN established itself inside from the outset with layups from Mahmoud Fofana and Adams for an early 4-0 lead. The Aggies though converted on their first two threes and held a 9-6 lead at the four-minute mark of the game. From there though, the Matadors went on an 8-0 run with Fofana and PJ Fuller II scoring in the paint. CSUN would take a 16-11 lead on another layup, this time from Jones with 11:58 left in the first half. Near the 10-minute mark, CSUN completed an 8-0 run with Adams scoring six of those points, all from beyond the 3-point arc for a 26-14 lead. The Aggies would battle back to within seven with five minutes in the first half, but CSUN did not allow another field goal for the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, the Matadors went on a 6-0 spurt with Scotty Washington making it a 34-21 game on basket in the paint. The Aggies though went into the break trailing only by a 34-25 margin after making four consecutive free throws in the final 1:43.
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A strong drive from Scotty Washington and CSUN has its largest lead of 13.#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/jrpxL2HpIE
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) January 4, 2025
Out of intermission, Fofana put the Matadors back ahead by double digits with a layup, which was assisted by Jones. Fofana scored again at the 17:43 mark for a CSUN 40-28 lead, but the Aggies recorded the next six points, pulling to within 40-34 on a TY Johnson free throw. On the ensuing possession, Fofana converted in the paint while Adams followed with a big dunk off a feed from Fofana to quickly push the lead back to double digits, 44-34.
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This is a @marcusadams21 fan account.
— CSUN Men's Basketball (@CSUNMBB) January 5, 2025
16 points (7-11 FG) for the sophomore as CSUN builds a 10-point lead.#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/j5E1WBNkXr
CSUN leaned on Adams' hot shooting from the outside as the sophomore made three consecutive threes during a key stretch to extend the lead to 55-40 with 11:57 left to play. In fact, Adams scored 11 consecutive Matador points to help keep the lead at double digits. The Matadors also received timely rebounding throughout the second half from Jones who tallied 12 of his 20 boards in the final stanza. Jones also converted on a tough and-one drive to the basket to give CSUN a 60-46 advantage with 6:13 on the clock. The Aggies would mount one final rally, pulling to within 10 on a three from Isaiah Chappell with under three minutes to go. However, the Matadors had an answer as Jones found Fuller for a corner three on the next possession. With a minute to go, Jones pulled down an offensive rebound and scored inside, plus a foul, to help put the game out of reach.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN improves to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in Big West play while UC Davis falls to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in conference.
- The Matadors finished shooting 47.4 percent from the field while making 7-of-16 threes (43.8 percent) and 12-of-23 free throws (52.2 percent). In contrast, the Aggies were held to 30.2 percent shooting while they made 8-of-24 threes and (33.3 percent) and 21-of-29 free throws (72.4 percent).
- CSUN out-rebounded UC Davis 45-34 and held a 40-12 edge in points in the paint.
- Adams finished 5-of-9 from three along with 11-of-17 overall from the field.
- Fofana also scored in double figures, tallying 15 points while Washington had 10 points.
- Jones is the first Matador since Tremaine Townsend on Feb. 8, 2008 to reach 20 rebounds in a game. Townsend totaled 22 rebounds that night and also did so against UC Davis. Overall in CSUN history, Jones' 20 rebounds rank 10th-best, while his total is the second-most in the Division I era, just behind Townsend.
ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"It was really fun to see these guys compete. That was an incredible defensive performance and that's two games in a row now. If we keep this up, we're going to be tough.
"[Today's win] was huge. Coach Les is an established coach and a mentor of mine, and if I could have half the career he's had, I'd be really happy. It's always fun when you beat a really good team that's really well coached and that's what we did tonight."
UP NEXT
CSUN continues a two-game homestand when the Matadors host UC Irvine on Thursday, Jan. 9 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
UCD
CSUN
FG%
.302
.474
3FG%
.333
.438
FT%
.724
.522
RB
34
45
TO
17
19
STL
14
6
Game Leaders
Pts
28
FGM
11
3FGM
5
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG/F
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