A dominant 68-59 win over Cal State Northridge capped off an emotional day for Mike Caffey, David Samuels and the three other graduating seniors Thursday night inside the Walter Pyramid.
Head coach Dan Monson, Samuels, Caffey, Lamb, guard McKay LaSalle and forward Eric McKnight each addressed the crowd in a postgame ceremony, thanking the fans and their families.
“Everybody take a minute and think about something that makes you really happy,” LaSalle said. “For me, that’s coming out here and listening to you guys cheer for us, for me, for the coaching staff. That’s what makes me really happy.”
Samuels fought back tears as he thanked his parents and his brother, Kenneth, who accompanied Samuels to half court.
Samuels gave one of the best performances of his career in his final home. In addition to his 19 points and 12 boards, Samuels’ defensive intensity in the second half powered the 49ers (15-16, 9-6) past a struggling squad of Matadors (9-23, 4-12).
“[Samuels] didn’t have a great game” Monson said. “He had a great second half. We really challenged him at halftime.”
In a defensive sequence in the second half, Samuels blocked three consecutive CSUN shot attempts. He recorded his sixth double-double of the season.
“We’re still going to work on our rebounding and assists and just playing hard,” Samuels said. “But this is a good step in a good direction.”
Caffey finished his final home game with 10 points on four of eight shooting. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out eight assists. He said it hasn’t really hit him yet that he will never play again inside the Pyramid, and he’s just looking forward to Saturday’s game at UC Riverside.
“[The win] was a big confidence [boost],” Caffey said. “We had the streak of five losses. After that, it feels good to get a win and play our best ball going into the [Big West Tournament].”
LBSU struggled on offense for much of the first half, shooting just 38 percent from the floor. The Matadors routinely attacked the rim, getting to the free throw line 13 times compared to LBSU’s two.
“We fell in love with the three instead of the rim,” Monson said. “We reversed that in the second half and got the ball to the rim. Offensively, I thought we took another step forward again at the right time of the year. We have more guys in a flow right now than we had in a while.”
Monson said the only adjustment he made at halftime was telling his team that the only person allowed to shoot jump shots was LaSalle.
“We just went to the rim and quit settling,” Monson said. “It’s hard because you don’t want guys to lose confidence in their jump shot. It wasn’t that they weren’t good shots early in the game, but we could get great shots near the rim.”
CSUN head coach Reggie Theus sat out his leading scorer, Stephan Hicks, for the game. The Matadors’ Sports Information Director Kevin Strauss said Theus kept Hicks out so the senior guard could have extra rest ahead of next week’s Big West Conference Tournament.
The 49ers take on UC Riverside Saturday at 5 p.m. for their season finale.