MIKE HISERMAN : College Notebook : CSUN’s Coach: Happy, Humble

Cal State Northridge basketball players are walking a little taller these days, and who could blame them?

They should be allowed to smirk and gloat a little. Almost halfway through the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season, the Matadors are in first place after a preseason coaches’ poll picked them to finish sixth in the eight-team conference.

Northridge, which is 5-1 in the CCAA and 13-7 overall, started the season with a starting five consisting of two returning players and three transfers. The top two players off the bench were also transfers and the Matadors had no player taller than 6-7.

Said Coach Pete Cassidy in previewing the season in November: “Looking at the personnel of some of the teams we play, I’m very concerned abut our ability to rebound with them. That scares me a lot.”

Cassidy is no longer cringing at the thought of facing each CCAA opponent, but he is still cautious when talking about his team’s success this year. “In this conference, when you start taking anything for granted, you get knocked off,” he said.

For a lesson in humility, look back three years ago.

In 1982, Northridge started the month of February 15-2 overall, 6-1 in the CCAA and ranked No. 3 in the nation. It ended the month (and the season) 17-7 overall, 8-6 in the CCAA, unranked, and out of the playoffs.

“There were a lot of different reasons for our fall that year and many of them are not pleasant to talk about,” Cassidy said. “Our center (Al Adney) was hobbling on a bad ankle, and another key player went cold all of a sudden. There were some other extenuating circumstances too.”

There are few similarities between the 1981-82 team and this season’s squad. Both were strong defensively and good at the free-throw line, but this season’s team has often struggled to win, while the 1981-82 team had several relatively easy victories.

“There is no way this team can possibly be overconfident,” Cassidy said. “Three of our wins in conference have been by one point and we’ve had five overtime games. We’re certainly not blowing people out of the gym. We’re doing some mirror work and we’re getting by.”

In last Friday’s game against UC Riverside, Northridge scored on 59% of its field-goal attempts, made all 16 of its free-throw attempts, committed only 10 turnovers and won by only a point on two free throws with three seconds left in the game. Mirror work, indeed.

“If we’re not on top of our game every night out, we can get beat,” Cassidy said. “At UC Riverside we played a great game and almost got beat. That’s typical of this conference.”

If there is a positive aspect to playing so many close games, Cassidy says it is that his team should now be confident it can win close games.

“When you go down the road so many times, you’re not a stranger to it,” Cassidy said. “Being in tight ball games has to help us. We shouldn’t be panicking when we’re in a close game. We’ve been through so many already.”

Fortunately for Cassidy, Northridge has won the majority of its close games. The Matadors have won six games by two points or less.

“We’ve been fortunate to get some breaks,” Cassidy said. “The problem is, what goes around, usually comes around. We lost games to Westmont (68-67 in overtime), Biola (43-41) and Cal State Hayward (65-57 in overtime) early that we might have won with a little luck. Since then, we’ve been on a good streak, but you never know when that will change.”

Cal State Northridge freshman Regan O’Hara was 13th in NCAA Division II rebounding statistics released this week.

The 5-10 forward from Encino was averaging 11.8 rebounds a game when the statistics were taken. That was four games ago. She has since raised her rebounding average to 12.8 overall and 15.4 in the CCAA. O’Hara also leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game; field-goal shooting percentage with 48.8%, and assists with 54.

Sam Veal, the CCAA’s top scorer with an average of 21.4 points a game, leads Cal State Los Angeles against Cal State Northridge tonight at the CSUN gym.

The men’s game will be preceded by a women’s game featuring Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona, the No. 11-ranked Division II team in the nation.

The women’s game starts at 5:45 p.m. Men’s action follows at 8:05.

Cal State Los Angeles, which is 3-3 in the CCAA and 11-8 overall, trails conference-leading Northridge by two games.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s team is 4-1 and in second place in the CCAA. Northridge is 1-4 in conference, 7-10 overall.

Mike Almeido was named the CCAA men’s basketball Player of the Week last week for his efforts in the Matadors’ victories over UC Riverside and Cal Poly Pomona. CSUN moved into the CCAA lead with a 68-67 victory over Riverside last Friday. Almeido scored 20 points and made all eight of his free-throw attempts, including six in the last 21 seconds of the game. His two free throws with three seconds remaining provided CSUN’s margin of victory. Against Pomona the following night, Almeido scored only eight points, but Northridge won, 57-47.

Cal Lutheran College honored Detroit Tigers Manager Sparky Anderson in a luncheon Wednesday at the Sheraton Grande Hotel in Los Angeles.

Anderson was the recipient of the college’s Tom Landry Award, given annually to people who have “distinguished themselves as a professional through Christian example.”

Previous recipients of the award include cartoonist Charles Schultz, former President Gerald Ford, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, Times sports columnist Jim Murray and comedian Bob Hope.

Anderson sponsors an annual golf tournament and banquet for the Cal Lutheran baseball team that has brought in more than $100,000 in scholarship money, according to CLC Athletic Director Bob Doering.

Notes

Cal Lutheran College was formally accepted into the NCAA Division II last week. CLC will play football in the Western Football Conference along with Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Portland State and Cal State Sacramento. CLC also retained its membership in the NAIA Division I. . . .

Bill Carr of Glendale College made 12 of 12 free-throw attempts in an Imperial Valley Conference basketball game against San Bernardino last week. He has made 41 of his last 42 free-throw attempts. Glendale has won 11 of its last 13 games and is 9-1 in the IVC, one game in front of Rio Hondo College and Riverside College. The Vaqueros are 12-9 overall. . . .

When Moorpark College beat Santa Barbara College last Saturday, it was the first time the Raiders had won a game at Santa Barbara since 1978. Moorpark started this week having won 11 of its last 14 games. The Raiders are second in the Western State Conference, 1 1/2 games behind Taft College. . . .

After some early season shooting problems, Marty Wilson, a freshman at Pepperdine University, has been playing well for coach Jim Herrick. The 6-3 freshman from Simi Valley High is the first guard off the bench for the Waves. He is averaging 2.5 points in slightly more than 11 minutes a game. Wilson is still shooting only 34% (20-59) from the field and 65% (13-20) from the free-throw line, but he is third on the team with 37 assists. Wilson backs up starting guards Jon Korfas and Dwayne Polee. . . .