Same Old CSUN in 79-69 Loss

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo may be but a shadow of the team that won the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. last season, but that was good enough to defeat Cal State Northridge, 79-69, Saturday night at the CSUN gym.

It was the Matadors’ third consecutive loss and the Mustangs second straight win. San Luis Obispo is 4-3 in the CCAA, 12-8 overall. All four of the Mustangs conference wins have come on the road.

Northridge fell to 3-4 and 7-13.

And while San Luis Obispo showed a few flashes of its form of last year, so did Northridge--the form that enabled the Matadors to go 4-10 in conference.

Northridge shot 35.7% and got lost on defense as often as it found the basket on offense.

“Regressing is not a bad term,” said CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy. “It’s fairly accurate in our case.”

Despite that, the game was tied at half and Northridge was within striking distance for much of the second half. That is until Melvin Parker and Mark Shelby got hot for the Mustangs.

Parker, who finished with a game-high 24 points, had 18 in the second half. Shelby scored all 16 of his in the second half, including two slam dunks after steals and two layups after steals.

Why he even managed to sink five free throws in the last two minutes of the game. No small trick considering he shot less than 30% from the line in conference last season.

Shelby was a teammate of Sean Chambers, the Mustangs’ leading scorer on the season, at Highland High in Sacramento. When both were seniors, the team went undefeated before losing to Crenshaw and John Williams in the state championship game. Chambers was held to 16 on Saturday, but Parker more than took up the slack with his best performance of the season.

Pat Bolden, in only his second game back in the lineup after a month off with a knee injury, led the Matadors with 21 points. Paul Drecksel added 17.

It was 27-27 at the half despite San Luis Obispo making only two field goals in the last nine minutes of play.

The reason: The Matadors were even worse.

Northridge shot 29.6% and made only one field goal in the last 10 minutes. It was the fourth time that the Matadors had shot less than 35% in a half in their last three games. In the second half, they almost made it 5 of 6.

San Luis Obispo didn’t exactly rip the nets, either--even before its cold streak. The Mustangs shot 41.7% and blew several layups.

That, and three three-pointers by Paul Drecksel, kept the Matadors close. Northridge was actually better from three-point range--3 of 8--than inside the key--4 of 12.

Cal Poly SLO 27 52 -- 79

CS Northridge 27 42 -- 69

SAN LUIS OBISPO--Chambers 16, Colvin 6, Masingale 0, Gray 3, Wintringer 7, Shelby 16, Otta 5, Parker 24, Talley 2.

NORTHRIDGE--Daniels 5, Horwath 6, Bowser 7, Drecksel 17, Dueker 0, Carr 6, Bolden 21, Cooper 7.

In the women’s game, Denise Sitton scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds to lead to Northridge over San Luis Obispo, 68-58.

Sitton’s last two points came on a 10-footer with 1:59 left in the game that gave her 1,300 points for her career. She set a Northridge record for career points last week.

The victory moved Northridge’s record to the .500 mark for the first time since the opening week of conference. The Lady Matadors are 10-9, 3-3 in the CCAA.

San Luis Obispo, which was led by Sherrie Atteberry’s 24 points, fell to 9-12, 2-4.

Northridge saw an early 15-point lead evaporate to three late in the first half.

Cal Poly SLO 29 29 -- 58

CS Northridge 36 32 -- 68

CAL POLY SLO--Jorgenson 8, Barlow 3, Atteberry 24, Lackone 2, Jordan 9, Faler 4, Erhard 8.

CS NORTHRIDGE--Sitton 25, M. Dixon 11, K. Dixon 14, Middleton 7, Mallett 4, Brinkema 5, Enright 2.