Matadors Plead No Contest, 71-49 : Northridge Flounders as Riverside Dominates Down Low

In what was as much a trashing as it was a game, Cal State Northridge lost to UC Riverside, 71-49, Friday night at Riverside.

Before the game, CSUN assistant coach Rusty Smith was asked if the Matadors (10-12) had any chance of winning against the Highlanders (18-5).

“No,” he said.

CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy said, “Well, I always believe we have a chance.”

Sure, sure, but a decent chance?

“No,” Cassidy said.

With that, it was unanimous.

It took UC Riverside about six minutes to run up a 10-point lead. With just over eight minutes left in the first half, the Matadors trailed, yawn, 20-6.

Another CSUN assistant, Mark Felix, was spared from watching the game. He was in Northern California looking for promising high school big men.

CSUN’s deficiency in the middle was apparent from the beginning against the taller Highlanders. Matador center Paul Hobus, who is 6-6, by his own admission, isn’t a true center. He’s a forward and Riverside was well aware of that.

Again and again the Highlanders went inside to 6-9 center Paul Kapturkiewicz and 6-7 forward Robert Jimerson for easy baskets.

Said Jimerson: “I guess our talent level was a lot higher than theirs. They just didn’t have the height.”

Riverside outrebounded Northridge, 47-30.

When CSUN concentrated on stopping Riverside inside, the Highlanders let loose with guards Andre Greer and Anthony Holt.

Inside, outside, you name it. The Matadors were basically hopeless. They trailed, 41-20, at the half.

From there, the only thing left in doubt was whether the margin of victory would be 20 or 30 points.

Cassidy had as good an analysis as anyone.

“The whole game was a mental lapse. They are just a better team than we are,” he said. “They played very relaxed. When we fell behind, our young guys got nervous. They out-horsed us. We’ve been out-horsed all year, but sometimes we find a way.”

There was no way against Riverside.

“We didn’t run our offense,” said Hobus. “We had people scattered all over the place.

“This bad of a loss really hurts us. We just have to put it out of our minds.”