CSUN (8-15 overall, 3-6 Big West) falls to Long Beach State (12-12 overall, 6-3 Big West) on the road late, by a score of 76-81.
The Matadors were led in scoring by sophomore guard Micheal Warren, who scored 14 points on five-of-nine shooting as well as shooting four-of-five from three to go along with five rebounds.
Though CSUN was able to outshoot LBSU 46.4 percent shooting from the field to 42.9 percent from the field. The Matadors were not able to shoot well from the free-throw line where they shot a poor 59.3 percent from the field and ultimately led to their defeat.
CSUN and Long Beach State played a hotly-contested first half where neither team was able to get overwhelming control to run away with the game.
On a tip-in by Warren, CSUN took their first lead of the game 4-2 at the 18:37 mark in the first half.
After trailing by one the Matadors would go on a 5-0 run capped off by a three-pointer by Warren to take a 23-19 lead with 9:24 to go in the first half.
Minutes later at the 6:54 mark of the first half the Matadors would take their largest lead of the game following a Warren three-pointer that would give them a 30-25 lead.
Long Beach State would come roaring back as they would take a 39-36 lead over the Matadors heading into the half.
The Matadors would begin the second half on a 7-0 run and take a 43-39 lead upon junior guard Kendall Smith scoring two of his game-high 14 points.
However, CSUN would fall behind again, and closest they would get to victory would be at the 3:45 mark in the second half where they nodded the game at 68 following a jumper by sophomore forward Tavrion Dawson.
Dawson was a standout off the bench scoring 13 points on six-of-seven shooting to go along with three rebounds.
Sophomore guard Jerron Wilbut made a three-pointer with 24 seconds left in the game to get the Matadors within two points of Long Beach State making the score 74-76.
But it was a little too late as the Matadors would fail to make a late comeback as they would fall 81-76 to the 49ers.
CSUN will look to rebound against the California State University, Fullerton Titans on Wednesday Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Matadome.
