{"id":138512,"date":"2026-01-18T04:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/138512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T04:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:45:09","slug":"csun-drops-87-80-decision-to-long-beach-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/138512\/","title":{"rendered":"CSUN Drops 87-80 Decision to Long Beach State"},"content":{"rendered":"

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Men’s Basketball dropped its first home game of the season, falling to Long Beach State 87-80 on Saturday at Premier America Credit Union Arena. Larry Hughes II<\/a> led CSUN with 21 points while James Evans Jr.<\/a> had 17 points off the bench. Joshua O’Garro<\/a> registered 15 points and 14 rebounds and Josiah Davis<\/a> chipped in 13 points and 10 assists. CSUN took a slim lead into halftime, but the Beach outscored the Matadors 52-42 in the second half en route to victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HOW IT HAPPENED

\nThe Beach jumped out a 10-6 lead in the early going before CSUN surged with a 9-0 run on the back of a pair of threes from Hughes. Near the midway point of the first half, Hughes connected on a mid range jump shot, opening a CSUN 6-0 run for a 25-20 lead with 9:36 to go. The Matadors maintained a five-point lead until the eight-minute mark before the Beach went on a 10-0 run. During that stretch, CSUN went\u00a0without a field goal for nearly four minutes. CSUN looked up at a six-point deficit until ending the first half in strong fashion. A pair of Mahmoud Fofana<\/a> baskets followed by an O’Garro late hoop highlighted a 9-0 run to end the period, giving CSUN a 38-35 lead at halftime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hughes began the second half, drawing a foul from long range as he made all three free throws for a six-point lead. The Beach though caught fire from long range, burying a trio of threes in an 11-5 run. Rob Diaz knocked down another three at the 14:40 mark, putting the Beach in the lead once again at 51-48. The Beach’s Gavin Sykes would be the story in the second half, scoring 24 of his game-high 34 points in the period. Sykes put the Beach ahead by four at 54-50, and later gave his team a 63-58 advantage after hitting three straight at the free throw line. CSUN battled back to take a 67-65 lead on a 9-2 run, but the Beach scored the next six with Sykes closing the run on a layup. Another timely three from Sykes made it a 77-71 game with 3:43 to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CSUN made one final push, pulling to within 77-76 after five straight points and only looked up at a 79-76 deficit with 1:24 to play. However, after drawing a foul, Hughes missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the free throw line, leading to Sykes scoring a traditional three-point play on the other end. The Matadors managed to pull to within 83-80 on a Fofana putback\u00a0layup, however, Sykes hit two clutch free throws moments later to help secure a win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NOTES OF THE GAME
\n \n<\/p>\n


\n\tCSUN slips to 11-9 overall and 4-4 in Big West play while Long Beach State improves to 8-11 overall and 4-3 in conference.
\n\tThe Matadors shot 40.9 percent overall for the game, making 5-of-19 from three (26.3 percent) and 21-of-29 from the free throw line (72.4 percent). On the flip side, the Beach finished at 46.6 percent, hitting 10-of-30 threes (33.3 percent) and 23-of-28 free throws (82.1 percent).\u00a0
\n\tIn the rebounding department, CSUN held a 43-32 advantage.\u00a0
\n\tLong Beach State held an 18-9 edge in fast break points and 15-12 lead in points off turnovers.\u00a0
\n\tO’Garro’s double-double was his ninth of the season while Davis notched his fourth.\u00a0
\n\tMaking two from 3-point range on the night, Hughes has now made 63 threes this season, which places him into eighth on CSUN’s all-time single-season 3-point field goals\u00a0made list.\u00a0
\n\tFofana chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and nine rebounds.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\nACCORDING TO COACH ANDY NEWMAN
\n“We didn’t defend. We talked about how to guard Sykes and just didn’t do it. It’s not rocket science, you either defend and win or you don’t and you lose.”<\/p>\n

UP NEXT

\nCSUN will be off until next Saturday when the Matadors visit Hawai’i. Tip-off is slated at 9 p.m. PT on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan<\/a> and Alan Zinsmeister<\/a> are on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com\/Radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

#GoMatadors

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