At halftime, the Matadors lead Bakersfield 38-24. Tremaine Townsend’s leading all scorers with 14 points while the second-leading scorer – surprisingly – is seldom-used guard Therin Taylor, who has nine. The Roadrunners had spread the wealth offensively, but shot just 28 percent from the field. The crowd has increased considerably now.

I can’t quite figure out what it is, but I think Bobby Braswell wants him to post up in the paint harder. Braswell keeps yelling at him to “face up” as the Matadors swing the ball and spread around the wings while Cordell’s the designed center. Here comes the play again. Cordell’s looking back at Braswell confused. He got the ball wide open at the three-point line, but his shot rattled around the rim and came out. Braswell was disappointed… Read more

A couple of Mark Hill steals turned into points have made this a small blowout. The Matadors are leading 30-17 with 6:48 to go in the first half. That means CSUN’s gone in a 26-3 run. And now Galick and Latunde got in a little bit of a scuffle that ended with Galick taking a dive backwards. Refs took care of it quickly. Latunde and Galick shook hands and CSUN’s running again.

The Matadors have finally found a way to score and are now withing 17-14 at the 11:55 mark. Things are getting a bit extra-physical. A Roadrunner was heading back to his side of the court when he ran into Willie Galick, who didn’t move and sent the shorter man back a few inches. The Bako man said something to Galick, who pretty much ignored him. Then, he was bumped by 6-10 forward Cory Brown of CSUB and had another exchange… Read more

Whether it’s the lack of a home crowd tonight or this just being a non-conference game, the Matadors have come out slow and currently trail the Roadrunners 14-4 with 15:24 to go in the first half. Rob Haynes is back on the court. Tremaine Townsend just scored on a layup … and a jumper. Townsend has six of the Matadors’ eight points. It’s 14-8 now.

The rain has been so bad that even Alan Zinsmeister, one of CSUN’s two-man radio broadcasting crew, wasn’t able to make it. Bill Courtland will handle the radio duties by himself. On to the starting lineups. CSU Bakersfield goes with Trent Blakey, Santwon Latunde, Cory Brown, Alex Johnson and Bryan Emmanuel CSUN goes with Vincent Cordell, Tremaine Townsend, Rodrigue Mels, Josh Jenkins and Kenny Daniels. Yup, Rob Haynes, fresh off a concussion will come off the bench.

And it’s got to be the lowest attendance I’ve seen this season for a men’s basketball game. I’m counting them … seven people in the student section. It’s probably the weather. Deon Tresvant’s here, though. He sang the national anthem with the team.

CSUN guard Rob Haynes, who missed Saturday’s game at Cal Poly while recovering from a concussion, said he’ll be ready to go against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday at the Matadome. Haynes suffered the injury after he dove headfirst for a loose ball in the first half of CSUN’s win at UC Santa Barbara last Thursday. He was able to walk off the court wearing a neckbrace and didn’t return. He was held off Saturday’s game as a precaution.  The… Read more

Alonso Tacanga Sports Editor The game was in the bag and CSUN guard Rodrigue Mels thought an alley-oop pass from half court wouldn’t hurt his team’s chances at its third consecutive win. Being up by double-digits with less than a minute to play can give you that kind of a feeling. The ball flew 30 feet in the air to its recipient, forward Kenny Daniels, but had a little too much elevation. Daniels’ fingertips touched it, but couldn’t complete the… Read more