Northridge Picks Up the Pace to Finally Win on Road, 77-64

Throughout the 1985-86 basketball season, Cal State Northridge has been strikingly consistent. The team has won seven straight on its home court. And on the road the Matadors have been, in a word, awful.

Before Friday night’s game at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Northridge had lost all six of its away games. On the road, the CSUN offense had looked confused and, even worse, lethargic.

But against Dominguez Hills, finally, the Matador offense clicked and CSUN won away from home, 77-64.

“By far, this was the best game we’ve played,” said 6-3 forward Jimmy Daniels. “We took our time and made good shots. We wanted it--you could tell from the start.”

The Matadors shot 70% in the game, including a lofty 74% in the second half. Paul Drecksel led with 20 points, Pat Bolden had 17 and Daniels scored 13, all in the second half.

Said Bolden: “We needed a win bad. We tried to concentrate. In practice, we talked about taking shots we knew we could make.”

But, what about Drecksel’s 22-footers? And wasn’t that Alan Gindlesperger out there hitting a twisting leap ‘n’ leaner?

“We’ve been working on those shots,” Bolden said. “It’s about time we started making them.”

Besides making their shots, the Matadors kept the Toros off the boards. Dominguez Hills hit the offensive boards hard, but CSUN managed to block them off. They out-rebounded the Toros, 23-19.

“We didn’t let them get second and third shots,” CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy said. “And we had very few mental breakdowns.”

The game started with Dominguez Hills jumping to a 3-0 lead when forward William Alexander scored on a baseline drive. But Drecksel duplicated Alexander’s move for the Matadors.

Tony Akins hit a jumper for the Toros. And Bolden hit a jumper for CSUN. It was like a game of h-o-r-s-e.

The Matadors took the lead for the first time at the 15:17 mark, 6-5, when center Paul Hobus hit a shot from the top of the key. Hobus’ basket was set up by Troy Dueker’s steal.

CSUN played an aggressive zone defense from the outset.

Drecksel took control of the game momentarily for the Matadors midway through the first half. First, he hit a baseline shot to give CSUN an 8-5 lead. He then drilled a 22-footer for a 10-6 lead.

Whan Drecksel finally missed, Jim Carr came up with an offensive board and was fouled. Carr was unable to convert the free throws and the Toros ran off six straight points.

Brian Edwards and Akins scored and Alexander got a basket on another baseline drive. Alexander was named an honorable mention All-American by Street and Smith’s last season.

The CSUN coaches were aware of Alexander’s preference for the baseline, but the Matadors still couldn’t stop the 6-4 forward in close.

The game remained tight through most of the first half. Both teams shot fairly well. Bolden’s jumper with just over eight minutes left gave the Matadors a 17-14 lead.

The lead stayed at three until, with four minutes in the half, Dan Mulder hit two free throws and CSUN led, 23-18.

Mulder made a shot under the basket, and then Gindlesperger hit a twisting jumper. The Matadors led, 27-18.

Gindlesperger and Drecksel combined for four foul shots as the half ended to give CSUN a 31-20 lead.

Early in the second half, CSUN extended its lead when Bolden scored seven straight points and the Toros couldn’t recover.