Men’s Basketball: ‘Eaters throttle CSUN
NORTHRIDGE — Both coaching staffs wore shiny new white tennis shoes to promote cancer awareness Thursday night. But the kick the UC Irvine men’s basketball team gave Big West Conference host Cal State Northridge was anything but cushioned.
The Anteaters expanded a 21-point halftime lead to 36 before settling in for an 80-49 victory that was more of a stomp than a mere step toward their longest winning streak of the season.
UCI (10-8, 3-1 in conference) takes a season-best three-game winning streak to Hawaii for Saturday’s finale of a three-game conference road swing.
UCI senior guard Travis Souza made his first five three-point shots to produce 15 first-half points and help the visitors establish control early.
Souza finished with those 15 points, one shy of his career high, as the Anteaters made six of 11 three-point attempts before intermission and eight for 19 for the game (42.1%).
The ‘Eaters made half of their 62 field-goal tries, while holding the Matadors (6-14, 2-3) to 29.6% shooting from the field (16 for 54). The hosts, who came in on a season-best two-game winning streak, made their final three-point attempt in the last minute to finish one for 10 from threedom.
UCI, which squandered a 15-point lead in the final six minutes of a loss last season at Northridge, finished the opening 20 minutes on a 21-6 run to gain a 39-18 advantage.
After Coach Reggie Theus’ squad netted the opening basket of the second half, UCI used a 9-0 spurt to collectively step on the Matadors’ necks.
“I thought we were focused, which we should be with a week to prepare,” UCI Coach Russell Turner said. “I thought we were really good on the interior with our rebounding and set the tone with our shot blocking. And we hit shots, which our team has the capability to do.”
Turner, who has expressed concern about his team’s ability to consistently compete at a high level, had little with which to quibble in that department Thursday.
“We have to develop more of a killer mentality to be as good as we can be,” Turner said. “We need to be able to finish. We’ve had so many games this year in which our intensity level has been inconsistent, but tonight we were able to maintain a high level; enough to spread the [lead] out.”
It was the largest victory margin in a regular-season conference game in at least the last 11 seasons and continued a recent resurgence for UCI, which won the Big West regular-season crown last season and was picked to do so again.
“Maybe we figured out what we should have been doing the whole [season],” said Souza, who leads the team with 39 three-pointers and has gone 26 for 47 from beyond the arc in his last 10 games (55.4%). “We have to bring that energy every night, because anyone can beat anybody in this league.”
Sophomore Luke Nelson, who made his first start in the last eight games, led the winners with 16 points and four assists, while senior Will Davis had 11 points and seven rebounds.
UCI, which remains tied for second with Long Beach State, one game behind conference-leading UC Davis, amassed a 44-29 rebounding advantage and had just seven of the game’s 16 turnovers.
Northridge senior forward Stephen Maxwell had a season-low one point and was zero for four from the field in 28 minutes.
Aaron Parks came off the bench to lead the Matadors with a season-high 18 points, while school career scoring leader Stephan Hicks had 14 points.
“There are probably two or three games during the course of a season that you have no explanation for and you have to just toss away,” Theus said. “This is one of those games, because we’re better than that.”
The 49 points were the fewest all season for the Matadors.
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Big West Conference
UC Irvine 80, Cal State Northridge 49
UCI – Davis 11, Ryan 2, Nelson 16, Souza 15, Young 4, Martin 8, Best 6, Dimakopoulos 6, Dunning 5, Wright 3, Ray 2, Saprykinas 2.
3-pt. goals – Souza 5, Nelson 2, Martin 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
CSUN – Hicks 14, Maxwell 1, Hale-Edmerson 8, Drew 4, Elliott 0, Parks 18, Webb 3, Cid 1.
3-pt. goals – Webb 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None
Halftime – 39-18, UCI.