The Matadors are up by double digits, 67-54 with 10 minutes to go.  UC Davis figures to have a run left in them. It all comes down to whether CSUN can survive it or not. The crowd is beginning to get a bit louder.

CSUN’s gotten out to a 52-43 lead but forward Tremaine Townsend has four fouls. He’s on the bench at the moment. He’ll need to be extra careful when he comes back. CSUN’s defensive performance so far has been impecable.

Five straight points from Rodrigue Mels have given the Matadors a 39-34 lead going into halftime. It should have been six points for Mels, but one of his long shots found him stepping on the three-point line. He faked an Aggie off his feet, leaned in and drilled the two-point shot. CSUN’s really picked up its defense. After allowing 15 points in the first five minutes, they only let UC Davis score 19 the rest of the way. The Aggies… Read more

There really isn’t much of a home court advantage for the Aggies. The loudest the UC Davis crowd has been was to salute a bunch of women (must have been part of a team) during a timeout. The chants of the Northridge fans are louder. CSUN’s up 34-30 with 3:05 to play in the first half.

Kenny Daniels has 11 points. His latest two came while he was being called for an offensive foul. How does that work? Or maybe it wasn’t an offensive foul. That stat isn’t showing up in the scorer’s table. Point is CSUN’s up 24-22 with 8:03 to go.

The man has eight of UC Davis’ 10 points. My advice to the Matadors: face-guard him. Well, not my advice. That’s actually what coach Bobby Braswell said. Just now Oliver scored his ninth and tenth points. UC Davis up 15-11.

There’s a lot of defense chants coming from the crowd but not much is showing on the court now. CSUN’s made 4-of-5 shots, while UC Davis has hit 4-of-7 attempts. The Aggies lead 10-9 and not even four minutes have gone by in the game.

There were already about 10 fans sitting behind the Matadors bench, but a group of three well-known inspired CSUN fans just arrived. They’re leading the CSUN cheers now with the typical “Let’s go Northridge.” They even greeted the Matadors as they came out to the court. CSUN’s starting lineup features Willie Galick, Kenny Daniels, Tremaine Townsend, Mark Hill and Rob Haynes. UC Davis is going with David Carter, Joe Harden, Dominic Calegary, Vince Oliver and Mark Payne. Game time.

Payne is ready to go for UC Davis. The sophomore shoots 67.6 percent from the field. The Aggies are another team with a great band. And numerous. Senior night here at the Pavilion!