The CSUN men’s basketball team was on the verge of starting off Big West play with a huge win over UC Riverside. A win over the Highlanders would’ve given the Matadors tons of momentum heading into the end of their non-conference schedule.
Instead, CSUN (6-3, 0-1) suffered a heartbreaking 68-64 loss to UCR (5-4, 1-0) on Thursday night at the Premier America Credit Union Arena.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for the Matadors after they lead for most of the game, around 26 minutes compared to UCR’s 10. The Highlanders did not lead once throughout the first half and saw the CSUN lead rise to as high as 10 points. UCR would outscore CSUN 37-29 in the second half to come out of Northridge with the win in the conference opener.
CSUN head coach Andy Newman was blunt about how the Matadors need to respond in their second conference game of the season on Saturday vs. Cal Poly.
“I don’t know,” Newman said.
The Matadors had another big game from guard Scotty Washington. He had 10 points in the first half en route to a 23-point game. The junior guard picked up the offensive load for the majority of the night as he shot 9-14 from the field, including 5-8 from three.
“He was phenomenal. Scotty was great, he had a great performance,” Newman added.
CSUN forward Keonte Jones added another double-double to his season total, making it his fifth through nine games as he tied his season total from a year ago. Jones had five doubles through 34 games for the Matadors last season. The do-it-all forward finished the game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. He tacked on three steals as well.
With 1,050 people in attendance for the game, the most for a home game this season, CSUN raced out to an early lead in the first half as it felt like they could do no wrong offensively. Washington came out the gate swinging and started off 2-3 from behind the arc.
The Matadors were about to end the half with a 10 point lead after a quick layup with 2:45 left in the first half pushed the CSUN lead to double digits, but the Highlanders would go on a 8-2 run to close out the half and head into halftime down 35-31.
CSUN did a good job of limiting the turnovers early as they had only four turnovers in the first half. The second half was a different story as their 14 turnovers would be a difference maker. The Matadors struggled shooting at the free throw line in the second half, going 7-12 from the stripe. With CSUN losing by four points, those free throw misses came back to haunt the team. UCR took advantage of CSUN’s costly second half mistakes and would escape with their first conference win on the road.
UCR’s star guard, Barrington Hargress, played like a man on a mission as he finished with a game-high of 27 points. The preseason All-Big West selection was the go-to-scorer for UCR head coach Mike Magpayo during the Highlanders’ second half comeback.
CSUN will travel to Cal Poly to take on the resurging Mustangs. After winning just 3 games all of last season, Cal Poly sits with a 5-5 record, but 0-1 in Big West play after their loss to UC Davis on Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
