CSUN Falls to Idaho to Open Holiday Hoops Classic

BOISE, Idaho---CSUN Men's Basketball could not overcome a slow second-half start in a 78-64 defeat to Idaho on Wednesday at the Holiday Hoops Classic inside the Idaho Central Arena. Larry Hughes II battled foul trouble to finish with a team-high 17 points while Josiah Davis poured in 16 points and five assists. Joshua O'Garro notched his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Idaho turned the game around in the second half, outscoring the Matadors 41-27 in the period en route to the double-digit win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Both sides would struggle from the floor throughout the night as it would be a low-scoring affair over the first 20 minutes. Hughes nailed a three-pointer to put the Matadors ahead early at 11-9. The Vandals took a brief 16-15 lead before CSUN answered with a 9-0 run, capped by a pair of free throws from Aleks Szymczyk. A Hughes three extended the Matador lead to 26-19 with 9:58 left in the first half, but a second foul soon regulated Hughes to the bench. CSUN held its biggest lead of the night at 29-21 with under eight minutes to go, however, the Matadors went scoreless over the next three minutes. Meanwhile, Idaho went on a 10-0 run behind two threes to take a 31-29 lead. CSUN fell behind 35-31 before scoring six of the next seven points to regain the lead. A late free throw evened the game at 37-37 at intermission.

Out of halftime, the Vandals scored the first five points to stake to a 42-37 lead. Shortly after the Matadors battled back to tie the game at 43-43 with 16:57 to go, CSUN would miss its next eight shots and turn the ball over five times during a pivotal six-minute stretch. The Vandals took advantage of the dry spell, executing a 13-0 run. Kolton Mitchell later drilled a three to extend the lead to 59-44 with 11:08 to go. CSUN played catch up from then on, pulling to within 11 points on four separate occasions but never any closer. Playing with four fouls early in the second half, Hughes pulled CSUN to within 69-58 with 5:00 to play. However, Idaho countered with a 9-2 run to put the game out of reach.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 3-3 overall while Idaho improves to 4-2.
The Matadors shot 36.1 percent for the night, only shooting 3-of-23 from three (13.0 percent) and 17-of-25 from the free throw line (68.0 percent). The Vandals would shoot 36.7 percent overall while going 12-of-41 from three (29.3 percent) and 22-of-27 at the free throw line (81.5 percent).
The Vandals out-rebounded then Matadors 40-37 and feasted on second-chance points at 18-11.
CSUN led in points in the paint 34-18.
Mahmoud Fofana chipped in with nine points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes.

ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"Idaho earned it. They out-rebounded us. That's the most discouraging thing for me with how much we work on it. It's tough, it takes guys with toughness, we're certainly athletic enough. We just haven't tasted that rebounding and defensive desire to really win at this level consistently. Until we do that, we're going to continue to have great nights like we did against Troy and tough nights like we did tonight and against North Dakota State. It's tough, as a coach, to have the answer and to drill it, and to come out tonight and just watch the guys not do it. As we move forward, we have to learn from it and get better, and we have some young guys that are hopefully learning and we're going to need them to make this season a successful one."

UP NEXT
CSUN concludes its stay at the Holiday Hoops Classic on Friday against Idaho State at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan has the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio and the Varsity app.

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CSUN Falls to Idaho to Open Holiday Hoops Classic

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Team Stats

Larry Hughes II

Josiah Davis

Joshua O'Garro

Mahmoud Fofana

Players Mentioned

Josiah Davis

Mahmoud Fofana

Larry Hughes II

Joshua O'Garro

Aleks Szymczyk