Northridge Remains in Hunt for Playoffs

Two basketball teams fighting for coveted spots in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. race battled with playoff intensity Saturday night at the Cal State Northridge gym and the home team, the one with the most to lose, came away with the victory.

Northridge defeated Dominguez Hills, 56-49, behind strong performances by Jimmy Daniels and Pat Bolden, who took turns pouring points in from long range.

Bolden finished with 12 points--including a pair of three-pointers to pull the Matadors back from an eight-point second-half deficit--while Daniels had 18, including 13 in the first half.

The victory kept Northridge in the thick of the race for one of four spots inthe CCAA’s postseason tournament, while Dominguez Hills failed to keep pace with first-place UC Riverside, which defeated Bakersfield, 89-82.

Riverside is 9-3, Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are 8-4, Northridge is 7-5 and Chapman is 6-6 after losing to last-place Cal State Los Angeles.

Left on the Matadors’ schedule are road games against Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo on Friday and Saturday.

“This was a crucial game,” CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy said. “We know we’re in the hunt and we can do it. I don’t care if it’s on the road or not.”

Northridge has beaten the top two teams in the conference, and that shouldn’t hurt the Matadors’ confidence if they reach the playoffs.

Dominguez Hills had defeated Northridge by 20 points in the first half of conference play behind John Nojima’s three-point shooting exhibition.

Nojima scored 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from three-point range in the teams’ first meeting.

This time he scored six and was 1 of 5 from three-point range.

“I took it kind of personal last time,” said CSUN guard Carl Cooper, who was one of the players Nojima burned. “You do what you have to do to win and if that means getting in someone’s shorts, you do it.”

And Cooper did (practically) just that in his first starting assignment.

Bolden, who was also making his first start of 1987, made the key plays on offense.

Dominguez Hills led, 45-42, with seven minutes left when Bolden hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, made two free throws and another three-pointer in a three-minute span. His last shot gave the Matadors a 50-45 lead.

Dominguez Hills scored only six points in the last 10 minutes.

In the women’s game, Denise Sitton scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Northridge to a 59-52 victory over Dominguez Hills.

Sitton scored 12 points in the second half, including two on a driving layup with 8:42 left in the game that gave her the CSUN single-season scoring record.

Sitton has 472 points, surpassing Pee Wee De La Riva’s 466 set in 1981.

The Lady Matadors are in second place in the CCAA with a 7-4 conference record, 14-10 overall. Their record at home this season is now 10-1.

Kathleen Dixon had 12 points and 8 rebounds for CSUN.