CSUN Falls Just Short at UC Irvine

IRVINE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball led for most of the night but fell just short in an 85-71 defeat at UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center. The short-handed Matadors were led by Larry Hughes II, who had 18 points to go with four made threes, while Josiah Davis posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. The Anteaters broke open a close game down the stretch, outscoring the Matadors 17-4 over the final five minutes.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Davius Loury scored the game's first five points to give CSUN the early lead. After UCI took a brief 9-7 lead, Hughes drilled a three to begin an 8-2 run. The Matador guard nailed another from downtown at the 8:58 mark, putting the Matadors in front 21-19. Moments later, Loury was on target from long range as CSUN once again led by a five-point margin. The first half though remained tightly contested with neither team leading by more than five. CSUN would take a 30-26 lead near the five-minute mark before UC Irvine answered with four straight to even the game up. The Matadors though closed the half by scoring six of the final nine points, taking a 41-37 lead on a late field goal from Grady Lewis.

UCI opened the second half on a 6-0 run, but the Matadors again had an answer, scoring the next six points with Davis giving CSUN a 47-43 edge. The Matadors extended to their biggest lead of the night at 54-49 when Davis scored off a Hughes assist. The Anteaters forged a 9-2 run, taking a 58-56 lead, only to have Davis answer on the other end with a driving layup. However, after Davis scored a layup with 9:52 to play, CSUN missed its next five shots while UCI scored the next five points to go in front 65-60. Despite shooting just 31 percent in the second half, the Matadors continued to hang tough, pulling to within 68-67 on a pair of Hughes free throws with 4:58 to play. The final minutes though belonged to the Anteaters as a 9-2 run quickly gave the home team a 77-69 advantage. Hughes made the Matadors last field goal of the night with 1:48 to play while the Anteaters hit timely free throws in the final stages to seal the win.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in Big West play while UC Irvine improves to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in conference.
The Matadors finished at a 39.4 field goal percentage to go with 8-of-22 shooting from three (36.4 percent) and 11-of-18 shooting from the free throw line (61.1 percent). The Anteaters shot 49.2 percent for the game while making 9-of-19 threes (47.4 percent) and 14-of-21 free throws (66.7 percent).
Playing without leading rebounder Joshua O'Garro, CSUN lost the rebounding battle 47-32.
UCI outscored CSUN 28-8 in second chance points and 36-32 in points in the paint.
Mahmoud Fofana finished with a double-double at 11 points and 11 rebounds while Loury had a season-high 11 points.
Jordan Brinson made his first start of the season, finishing with seven points and five rebounds.

ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"I'm really proud of some incredible performances tonight. Josiah Davis played his heart out, left it on the floor. Larry Hughes, Mahmoud Fofana, always, another double-double, really proud of those performances. Jordan Brinson gave us a big lift, 37 minutes, he played great and he didn't have a single turnover and five rebounds. I'm really proud of those four guys and what they left on the floor today.

"They kept bringing in guys and they were fresh. That's why I had to take those timeouts in the second half, we were gassed. At the end of the day, they wore us out. We were just one or two players short tonight."

UP NEXT
CSUN resumes non-conference play next week as the Matadors host Fresno State on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on ESPN+.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Falls Just Short at UC Irvine

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Team Stats

Larry Hughes II

Josiah Davis

Davius Loury

Mahmoud Fofana

Players Mentioned

Jordan Brinson

Josiah Davis

Mahmoud Fofana

Larry Hughes II

Grady Lewis

Davius Loury

Joshua O'Garro