CSUN Suffers 95-84 Loss at UC Riverside

Saturday, February 28

Riverside, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

18-12,11-7Big West

UC Riverside

10-21,5-14Big West

CSUN

UC Riverside

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Suffers 95-84 Loss at UC Riverside

2/28/2026 8:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball could not keep pace with UC Riverside in a 95-84 defeat on Saturday at the SRC Arena. Josiah Davis scored a career-high 38 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists while Joshua O'Garro added 16 points and seven rebounds. Mahmoud Fofana chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds for his seven double-double of the year.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Matadors appeared to take control at the start, racing to a 15-5 lead after the Highlanders began the game making 1-of-14 shots. However, the momentum switched quickly near the midway point of the first half. The Matadors missed 10 consecutive shots while UCR made six of nine attempts to quickly go ahead 19-16. CSUN would score the next eight points to pull ahead 24-19, capped by an O'Garro layup, but the Highlanders answered with a 7-0 run. Marqui Worthy knocked down a three at the 3:17 mark to begin a 7-0 run for a 35-26 UCR lead. After falling behind by double digits, CSUN picked up a three from Jordan Brinson at the halftime buzzer to pull to within 39-32.

The Matadors clawed to within 44-38 early in the second half, but they had no answer for the Highlanders and Worthy the rest of the way. A 12-2 run, capped by a Worthy layup in transition quickly extended the deficit to 56-40. Davis would carry the load offensively for CSUN in the second half, making 13-of-17 shots in the period alone, but CSUN remained behind by double digits for most of the half. Near the 11-minute mark, Davis scored back-to-back layups, pulling CSUN to within 64-55 before the Highlanders scored eight of the next 11 points. Worthy made an and-one layup near the seven-minute mark while Osiris Grady added a jumper to extend back to a 16-point lead at 80-64. CSUN managed to pull to within 88-76 on a Davis layup with 2:27 to go, but the Highlanders made a timely three on their next possession. Davis finished with 30 points in the second half including scoring 19 over the last 8:30, but it was not nearly enough to close the gap.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN slips to 18-12 overall and 11-7 in conference while UC Riverside improves to 10-21 overall and 5-14 in conference.
Davis' 38 points are tied for the eighth-most points scored in school history.
UCR scored 56 points in the second half, compared to 52 for CSUN.
The Matadors shot 43.8 percent overall and 3-of-16 from three (18.8 percent) and 17-of-23 from the free throw line (73.9 percent). The Highlanders finished at 44.0 percent overall while making 9-of-35 threes (25.7 percent) and 20-of-25 free throw lines (80.0 percent).
The teams finished with 44 rebounds each.
The Highlanders outscored the Matadors 18-5 in points off turnovers.
For UCR, Worthy had a team-high 38 points.

ACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
"Riverside played great. Kudos to them. That's a well-coached team. Considering that they're not in the tournament, they've already been eliminated and they're still playing good basketball. That's a testament to that staff and the kids in those uniforms. We've lost our way defensively and got to find it back. Obviously, Thursday was a big game for us. This one, maybe we talked into fruition. We knew we had to get our guys up for it and have some pop. I felt good about it in the first five minutes of the game and then we stopped guarding. We gave up 95 points. You're not going to win Division I basketball games when that's your intent on the defensive side of the ball."

UP NEXT
CSUN wraps up its road schedule in the regular season as the Matadors travel to Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m.

#GoMatadors