BOISE, Idaho — California State University, Northridge’s men’s basketball team dropped a 103-72 decision at Boise State on Saturday at ExtraMile Arena.

Sophomore Lamine Diane finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

Junior Terrell Gomez played through a tough night from the field to tally 10 points. CSUN led by a point with seven minutes to go in the first half before Boise State ended the period strong and never looked back after intermission.

Boise State shot a red-hot 57.1 percent from the field and made 11-for-23 from 3-point range (47.8 percent). In contrast, the Matadors finished with a 40.6 shooting percentage and 8-of-29 effort from downtown (27.6 percent). The Broncos out-rebounded the Matadors 43-27.

FIRST HALF
Diane dunked his first attempt to start the game and Elijah Harkless came away with a steal and bucket on the other end to put the Matadors in front early at 4-3. The Broncos would answer with six-straight points before the Matadors scored six of their own in impressive fashion. Diane made a second-chance dunk before two-straight steals led to consecutive Darius Brown II buckets to complete a six-point spurt in 10 seconds. Boise State though answered with a 10-run to build a 19-10 lead at the 13:07 mark of the half.

The lead stood at 23-13 before Diane caught fire from 3-point range. Three-straight shots from downtown including a deep NBA range attempt tied the game at 25-25 with a little over nine minutes to play. Diane made a circus shot going to the hoop to put the Matadors back in front by two before Justian Jessup nailed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. CSUN would trail 32-31 with 6:57 to play but Abu Kigab scored nine of 12-straight Bronco points over the next two-plus minutes. Jessup converted on a 3-pointer to push the lead further as the Matadors went into the break down 50-34.

SECOND HALF
After Diane was whistled for a fourth foul in the opening minute, the Broncos scored the next five points to quickly go up 55-36. Festus Ndumanya scored on a drive to the hoop on the next possession but a Bronco 9-1 run quickly made it a 64-39 game. Boise State shot over 52 percent in the second half and made five 3-pointers to lead by double-digits the rest of the way

Playing with four fouls over nearly the entire period, Diane scored 11 points while Lance Coleman II added seven points but the Matadors could not make a dent into the sizeable deficit. The lead swelled to over 33 points after a jumper from Riley Abercrombie with under two minutes to play. Diane and Michael Ou made late baskets for the Matadors in the final seconds, however the Broncos prevailed comfortably by 31.

GAME NOTES
Gomez is now in sole possession of eighth place on the Matadors’ career scoring list with 1,302 points. He can move ahead of Andre Chevalier (1990-94) for seventh place with 10 more points. Elsewhere on the Matador record book, Diane is up to fourth place in CSUN history with 80 career blocks.

Harkless finished with eight points and three steals while Coleman II tallied nine points off the bench.

For the Broncos, Kigab registered a game-high 33 points and Jessup added 24 points.

UP NEXT
CSUN concludes the 2019 calendar year with a New Year’s Eve contest against Morgan State at The Matadome at noon. The game is the first of a CSUN Basketball doubleheader with the women’s team hosting Hope International in the second game at 2 p.m.