Finishing their 2012-2013 regular season, the CSUN (14-17, Big West 5-12) men’s basketball team snapped its six game losing streak Thursday by defeating the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors (17-13, 10-8) 88-75.

“I challenged the guys before the game to finish the season strong,”
said head coach Bobby Braswell, who earned his 100th Big West conference
win. “I just wanted them to come out there fight and just show what
they had in them. They just obviously did a great job in battling and
battling….and in the end they just showed the toughness that you need
in order to win.”

The first half was a tight contest, with both teams trading the lead three times, tying the score four times and the half ended with the Warriors leading 43-39 . Hawaii was led by junior forward Christian Standhardinger‘s 17 points in the first half, finishing the game with a team high 26 points.

The Warriors shot 50 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from the three-point line in the first half.

Coming out for the second half, CSUN took control of the game, led by junior guard Josh Greene, who scored 18 of his career-high 37 points. According to www.gomatadors.com, the 37 points was the seventh-best single game scoring effort in CSUN history.

“My teammates found me, I was being aggressive and I just was taking what the defense gave me,” said Greene, who was 7-14 from beyond the arc,12-14 from the free throw line and had six assists. “We had nothing to lose so (I thought) might as well give it my all like I do every game.”

In the second half, Northridge tightened its defense, holding Hawai’i to 40 percent from the field and 0 for 7 shooting from the three-point line.

“Our defensive intensity (picked up) when there was a flagrant foul and a couple of
hard fouls,” Greene said. “We weren’t going to let
somebody come in our house and do that to us. It just fired us up and
took us to whole another level.”

CSUN took a 68-66 lead with 7:09 left in the game after a jumper by sophomore guard Allan Guai. From that point on, the Matadors never looked back, finishing the game on a 22-9 run.

“We came together as a team (in the second half),” said sophomore forward Stephen Maxwell, who had 14 of his 24 points and 9 of his 13 rebounds in the second half. “This whole season we didn’t play as a team by not being committed on the defensive end. What got us going (in the second half) was our mental and physical toughness. We just all came together and we were able to (get the win).”

CSUN’s aggressive play on offense sent them to the free throw line 11 more times than the Warriors, making 23 of 27 attempts.