Northridge Hopes to Avoid Replay of CCAA Collapse

Fun time is over for California Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball teams. Starting tonight, the bullies will have only each other to beat up on.

The CCAA is 62-40 in nonconference games this season and six of the eight conference teams have winning records.

Cal State Northridge (4-9) and Cal State Los Angeles (5-6) are the only teams with losing records and they’ll have a chance to get well against each other tonight at the CSUN gym.

Northridge--conference champion two years ago--can only hope what happened last season works in reverse. At this time a year ago, the Matadors were 7-5. CSUN then went 4-10 in the CCAA.

The Matadors will have to rebound without guard Pat Bolden, who is arguably the team’s best player.

Bolden suffered a knee injury in a game against Cal State Hayward on Dec. 29. He will undergo arthroscopic surgery Tuesday and be lost until the first week in February.

“I’ve never had a team hit by so many injuries and sickness,” Coach Pete Cassidy said. “We’ve gone a week and a half, maximum, without at least one of our top nine players missing a significant amount of practice time. That makes it difficult to get much accomplished.”

This fall, Cassidy said he felt Northridge had a good chance at a top-four finish and a berth in the conference tournament. His optimism was spurred by the return of all five starters and the play of recruits Todd Bowser, Ray Horwath and Clifford Barnes.

Point guard is one of Northridge’s problem areas. Senior Troy Dueker is neither a scoring threat nor quick enough on defense.

Horwath, a 6-5 junior forward, leads the Matadors in scoring (13.6) and rebounding (6.2). Paul Drecksel, a senior swing man, is averaging 12.4 points.

At center is Bowser, a 6-7, 275-pound freshman who needs to learn how to deliver punishment inside the key. He is averaging 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds.

Jimmy Daniels, a 6-3 senior, is expected to fill Bolden’s spot in the lineup.

Cassidy agrees with the rest of the CCAA coaches in choosing UC Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly Pomona as the best three teams in the conference.

Riverside (10-3) has the conference’s best front-line tandem in forward Robert Jimerson and center Paul Kapturkiewicz.

Jimerson, a 6-8 senior, is a preseason All-American who has lived up to his billing. He is averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds a game. Kapturkiewicz, a 6-9 senior, is shooting 60.5% and averaging 21 points and nine rebounds.

Bakersfield (11-2) begins conference with an eight-game win streak. The Roadrunners are averaging 84.9 points a game and have forced an average of 20 turnovers a game by their opponents.

Forward Earl Hawkins is Bakersfield’s top scorer with an average of 15.2. He is 19 of 37 in three-point attempts. Center Paul Phifer is averaging 14.4 points a game and Carl Finley leads the CCAA in assists with 98.

Pomona, Cassidy’s “dark horse pick” to win the conference might have the conference’s best shooting team. The Broncos have made 48.1% of their field goals and 71.9% of their free throws.

Pomona also has balance. Of the starters, guard Darron Suttle has the highest scoring average at 12.7. Center Gregg Brofer has the lowest at 9.5.

Cal State L.A. has won three of its past four games after losing five of its first seven. The Golden Eagles should only get better with the recent return of starters James Stewart and Cary Brooks, who were both academically ineligible for the first eight games.

The CCAA’s surprise team during nonconference play has been Cal State Dominguez Hills behind William Alexander (20.4 scoring average). The Toros have opened 10-3 after finishing 8-19 (3-11 and next to last in the CCAA) last season.

San Luis Obispo, which won the conference last season with a 12-2 record, again will rely on guard Sean Chambers (19.3 points per game).

Chapman, 2-12 and trying to rebound from a last-place finish last season, is off to a 7-6 start behind the shooting of Jon Samuelson, who is averaging 16 points and has scored 20 or more in four of the past six games.