Drecksel Shoots Up Huntsville for CSUN

Paul Drecksel had the kind of half that many players only dream about.

The Cal State Northridge senior scored 23 of his game-high 26 points in the first 20 minutes Tuesday night as Northridge beat Alabama Huntsville, 83-67, in a nonconference game at CSUN.

Drecksel, a 6-4 guard, hit five three-point shots in the first half. He made 10 of 15 shots overall, including 6 of 7 from three-point range.

“The shot was there,” Drecksel said. “I guess they didn’t respect me much in the first half, even though my shot was falling. The second half, they switched to a man-to-man defense and (my man) followed me everywhere.”

Drecksel made only 1 of 5 shots in the second half.

Northridge (3-7) trailed early on, but caught the Chargers when Pat Bolden hit a three-point shot with 13:02 left in the half to give the Matadors a 21-19 lead.

Huntsville (5-10) shot 71% (17 of 24) in the first half, but trailed at halftime, 48-42, as Northridge shot 56%.

Northridge increased its lead to 52-42 before being outscored, 8-5. The Matadors then outscored Huntsville, 10-1, to open a 67-51 lead with about six minutes left.

Northridge never led by less than 14 after that, as Huntsville cooled down considerably in the second half, making only 9 of 27 shots.

Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy switched to a man-to-man defense midway through the first half in an effort to slow down Huntsville’s Rickey Barrett, who scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the first 20 minutes.

“I thought that was the key to our win,” Cassidy said. “Barrett was giving us problems, but when we went to a man-to-man defense, that gave him problems in the second half.”

Ray Horwath added 17 points and seven rebounds for Northridge, while Bolden and Todd Bowser each scored 12 points and Troy Dueker had 10 assists.

For Huntsville, Scott Robinson scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Ronald McCrary scored 15.

Northridge shot 50% (29 of 58), while Huntsville shot 51% (26 of 51).