In his first action at the Division-I level, freshman Stephen Maxwell, middle, led CSUN with 20 points and 11 rebounds in only 22 minutes. Photo Credit: Andres Aguila / Daily Sundial

While the Matadors were chipping away at Cal State Bakersfield’s 17-point lead in the second half, the jam-packed crowd at the Matadome was buzzing about CSUN’s new weapon.

Freshman forward Stephen Maxwell made a huge splash in his Matador debut Wednesday night, recording a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, and drew oohs and aahs from the stands, and even from CSUN head coach Bobby Braswell.

“I didn’t expect him to play that well, he played extremely well,” said Braswell about Maxwell, who missed the first five games of the year due to a health issue.

However, Maxwell’s surprising performance didn’t lead to a much-needed victory for the Matadors (1-5) as they fell short against Bakersfield 74-67 in a down-to-the-wire game.

With the game tied at 62 with 3:13 left in regulation, CSUN forward John Hayward-Mayhew – who also provided his team with an unexpected boost – was called for a flagrant foul that kick-started an 8-0 run for the Roadrunners (4-1) and cost Northridge the win.

“It was definetely a momentum changer,” Braswell said.

Hayward-Mayhew, who scored 15 points, didn’t agree with the call.

“I believe I was just posting up, ref saw different,” he said.

The loss dropped the Matadors to 1-5 on the season, but with Maxwell’s solid play, there’s reason for optimism. One large reason CSUN’s struggled thus far was due to a lack of presence in the paint.

“(Maxwell) was clearly the most valuable, most inspirational, most everything out there tonight and we missed that toughness all year long,” Braswell said.

The 6-foot-5 Maxwell said he felt “like an old man out there” in his first collegiate game, but got his wind in the second half. Maxwell seemed to have a lot of energy in his 22 minutes of play, grabbing eight offensive rebounds.

And when he didn’t come up with the board, he at least had a hand on the ball.

“I know I’m a strong rebounder and I just want to bring that to the team,” Maxwell said. “I’m pretty athletic, I  play hard and do whatever it takes to get the rebound.”

CSUN didn’t get off to a solid start in the second half and fell down by 17 points, but behind Maxwell, the Matadors went on a 23-5 run and took the lead at 52-51.

CSUN struggled form the field in the first period, shooting a low 30 percent (9-of-30) compared to Bakersfield’s hot 63 percent (17-of-27). For the game, the Roadrunners finished at 62.5 percent from the floor.

After a controversial early basket by Hicks was taken off the scoreboard, Bakersfield went on a 17-6 run to build a 24-10 lead, its biggest advantage of the first half.

Behind the play of Hayward-Mayhew, who scored 13 points in the first period, CSUN pulled within three points on a 15-4 run. The forward had nine points during the scoring burst, including a 3-pointer that made the score 28-25 with 5:30 left in the half.

Soon after, the Roadrunners went on a 10-2 run and took a 40-29 lead into the locker room.

Braswell decided to sit sophomore guard Josh Greene for the entire first half as a “message.”

“We had a little message to Josh about what he needed to do defensively,” Braswell said. “He wasn’t very good in the last game we played (against Drake) and he hadn’t been  playing well defensively.

“But he was reason we had the run we had (in the second half). His defense was solid.”

Greene started the second half and finished with 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

The Roadrunners were led by Tyrone White and Issiah Grayson. Both had 17 points.

CSUN’s next game will be Saturday at Santa Clara.

Josh Greene (left) recovered from an early season shooting funk to score 20 points against San Diego Christian. Photo Credit: Andres Aguila /Daily Sundial

Four field-goal attempts into his night, CSUN guard Josh Greene’s bid to snap out of his early-season shooting funk wasn’t looking promising.

Even as the Matadors (1-3) were beginning to run away with what eventually became a 95-68 win against overmatched San Diego Christian, Greene kept struggling. He’d missed every shot he’d taken and was lowering his field goal percentage for the season to unholy grounds.

“It’s basketball,” Greene said. “You’re going to miss shots, you’re going to make shots. “

Funks don’t last forever, though. Greene did plenty of shot-making after his early misses and led the Matadors with 20 points in another successful home opener for head coach Bobby Braswell, who’s now 14-2 in games of the kind.

Greene ended up shooting 8 for 18, but his most impressive stat of the night, he said, was his eight assists. In fact, he seemed lackadaisical about the fact that he snapped out of a scoring slump that had him as a 12-percent shooter coming into the night.

“My focus today wasn’t to shoot the ball, it was rebounding and finding my teammates,” said Greene, who also had four rebounds.

While Greene and CSUN won more than handily, they only shot 40 percent from the field. But Braswell said he couldn’t care less how well his team does offensively as long as his defense is holding up.

In this game, it did. CSUN held the Hawks to 31.9 percent shooting.

“I’d much rather shoot 40 percent and win a game than shoot 50 or 60 percent and lose basketball games because we can’t stop the other team from scoring,” Braswell said.

Not only did the Matadors force the Hawks to take difficult shots – many of them looked like they belonged in a Globetrotter act – they also forced the ball out of their grasp. San Diego Christian had 22 turnovers. CSUN transformed the takeaways into 29 points.

CSUN’s defensive effort wasn’t immaculate, however. Following a 42-point loss at Boise State in which the Broncos out-rebounded the Matadors 49-21, Braswell challenged his team to up its hustle for the ball. CSUN won the rebounding battle against the Hawks 49-40, but the “extra effort” played a part in SDC going to the free throw line 47 times.

The Hawks made good in 32 attempts. It was almost half their scoring total for the night.

“That’s a sign of bad defense, no doubt about it,” Braswell said. “When a visiting team comes into your gym and shoots 47 free throws, that’s not officiating, that’s just bad defense.”

Greene was quick to recognize SDC was not the most formidable opponent they’ll face this season, but said just “having a win on the win column” was a confidence builder.

It also didn’t hurt that Greene finally found his shooting groove.

“Before when I would miss a shot, when I was going through my slump, it was just like, ‘Dang, I gotta make the next shot,” Greene said. “But now it’s just like, as much work as I put in, I know if I just keep shooting with confidence, one’s going to go in sooner or later.”

Just a day before, teammate Stephan Hicks, who also had 20 points against SDC, had manifested his faith in the struggling Greene, saying he was sure that if the sophomore kept shooting, “the balls would eventually fall.”

Hicks’ prophecy came true for a night. Greene shrugged off his four misses and continued to pull up confidently. He drained his next four attempts. By the end of the first half, Greene led all scorers with 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting.

As far as San Diego Christian goes: the second half was a mere formality. The Hawks got punched and never answered.

CSUN trailed 10-7 at the 15:54 first-half mark before a familiar face got it started offensively. Hicks, CSUN’s leading scorer, scored eight consecutive points, jumpstarting a 14-0 run for the Matadors. The run put CSUN in absolute control for the rest of the night.

And after having a grim shooting start to the season, Greene might finally be off his slump. He just needed to go easier on himself, Braswell said.

“(Greene) kind of held on too much to those early struggles.” Braswell said. “Tonight he kind of let all that go and played his game.”

California State University police hold the line as protesters forced out of Wednesday's board of trustees meeting demanded to be let back in. Photo Credit: Andrew Lopez / Online Editor

CSU board of trustees voted to increase Fall 2012 tuition 9 percent while protesters turned violent outside after being removed from the Chancellor’s Office Wednesday.

Trustees voted 9 to 6 to raise full-time undergraduate tuition by $498 a year, bringing the total annual cost to $5,970.

“(It’s) time to tell the legislature this is what we need to operate this system, and if they’re not going to act then we have to show the leadership and make those tough, hard decisions,” board member Bob Linscheid said. “I hate like heck to make that decision, but I will.”

Chancellor Charles Reed told the board that a vote on tuition needed to be made as soon as possible to give prospective and current students plenty of notice of the fee increase.

“The timing of the (state) legislature is not congruent with the timing that the decisions that we have to make about the academic year,” Reed said. “We wanted to provide students and parents with as much notice as possible that tuition will go up in the fall.”

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a board of trustee member, said the board needed to end their trend of raising tuition if they ever expected to receive more state aid.

“We’re a record with grooves and we need to scratch that record,” Newson told the board. “You did a very good job today trying to justify a bad decision.”

Just outside the doors where the vote was taking place, several protesters with ReFund California Coalition clashed with police after being removed from the meeting for continuously disrupting board members.

The board also voted to approve its 2012-13 budget, which pressures the governor and legislature to provide $333 million in additional funding to cover all of CSU’s essential costs, including more classes, student services and faculty and staff health care, according to a statement from the CSU.

Once outside, protesters demanded to come back in, chanting “Whose university? Our university!”

When CSU police tried to close the doors on the protesters from the inside of the building, a struggle ensued.

Demonstrators who actively tried to regain entry to the Chancellor’s Office were pepper sprayed and pushed out of the doorway by CSU police. When police regained control of the door, the scene calmed down.

The violence picked back up when a student involved in an altercation with police was dragged back inside the building, thrown to the ground and arrested. At the same time, two other female students were also taken to the ground and arrested by CSU police.

Shortly after the three protesters were taken away by police, the glass front door was shattered.

Protesters outside backed away from the scene when the door shattered, marking the end of the chaotic scene.

A total of four people were arrested during the violent confrontation, including two students from San Diego State University and one student from CSU Long Beach, CSU spokesperson Erik Fallis said. Their charges have not been named.

First Report: LONG BEACH –CSU Board of Trustees voted 9 to 6 behind closed doors to increase tuition by 9 percent for Fall 2012 in a meeting marked by violence and arrests.

Three people were arrested when a group of protesters shattered the glass front door to the Chancellor’s Office after being forced out of a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday.

Board chair Herbert Carter suspended the meeting after protesters became disruptive when not everyone was allowed to speak during the public comment section of the meeting.

California State University Police were brought in to escort the protesters out of the building. Some protesters refused to leave as police resorted to pushing them out and guarding the line.

The situation escalated when protesters continued to press forward after police told them to move back from the door.

Police coordinated an effort to pull the doors closed but protesters resisted, leading to several of them being pepper-sprayed.