COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEWS : CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : Stall Not in Matadors’ Plans : Cassidy Relying on Veteran Team to Avert Slow Getaway

Remember that old clunker that always seemed to sputter when you stomped on the gas pedal? There is a basketball coach who knows the same frustration.

For the past two seasons Coach Pete Cassidy of Cal State Northridge has watched his team stall at inopportune times. At the beginning of last season and again in the first round of California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play, the Matadors couldn’t get enough fuel to their engine.

The season before, CSUN started the season 8-3, then lost six of its first seven conference games.

“We have been a notoriously slow starting team,” Cassidy said. “But there are reasons for that.”

The biggest one is Northridge’s typically complex offensive scheme. “We get a lot of things in, but we don’t have them down yet,” Cassidy said. “It takes a while for our timing to come together.”

Did that sound like a warning?

With a solid core of experienced players back from a team that finished strongly last season, it is unlikely that the Matadors will match their poor start of a year ago, but even so, don’t expect them to accelerate too quickly. There are major roadblocks.

Northridge, 12-15, 8-6 in the CCAA last season, opens at home against an improved Cal Lutheran team next Tuesday, then takes to the road for its yearly garden-spot-of-the-country tour. First stop is Wichita, the last, Manhattan. Unfortunately for the Matadors, that’s Manhattan, Kan., home of the Kansas State Wildcats.

Wichita State and Kansas State earned Division I tournament berths last season and are good bets to do the same again.

They are even better bets to whip Northridge, which will net about $14,000 for its troubles. Cassidy is hopeful that the trip also will develop the team’s cohesiveness.

“And there’s always the chance we can knock someone off,” he said. “We don’t concede games to anybody.”

Although the Division II Matadors are void of the kind of talent it takes to be competitive with high-caliber Division I opponents, they should qualify for the CCAA postseason tournament this time around.

The starting front line of Todd Bowser, Ray Horwath and Pat Bolden is back. Bowser, a 6-8, 270-pound sophomore, improved in leaps and pounds last season. He reported to practice a year ago weighing more than 300 pounds. Horwath was CSUN’s top scorer with a 12.8 average and Bolden, sans nagging injuries, is as good as any forward in the conference. Carl Cooper and Troy Dueker, who split time at point guard, also return.

Northridge failed in its attempt to sign another tall front-line player to complement Bowser. The Matadors did gain valuable depth at forward and guard, however.

Alan Fraser, a 6-6, 225-pound junior, can play any position from off-guard to center. He averaged nine points and seven rebounds for Fullerton College last season. David Zeyen, a 6-6 forward who averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for San Joaquin Delta College last season, adds scoring punch off the bench.

At guard, Northridge has added Chuck McGavran and Jermal Baker, both of whom should give immediate help to a problem area.

McGavran, a high school teammate of Fraser’s at Newport Harbor, can play either guard position and might be the team’s best three-point shooter. He set an Orange Coast College record with 375 career assists and was first-team All-South Coast Conference last season.

Baker, a freshman from Manual Arts High, has the kind of quickness on defense that can cause havoc. He missed most of last season because of an ankle injury but returned in style during the playoffs. He scored 21 points and had seven steals against Westchester, then scored 18 points and handed out eight assists in a loss to eventual City Section champion Fairfax.

“I feel pretty good about this bunch,” Cassidy said. “I know that we’re not going to be anywhere near polished early in the season, like we will in January, but that’s all right. We need to play some games. Athletes need repetitions before they learn to react to certain situations. If they have to think first before they react, they lose a step. When we get past that stage, we should do well.”

As usual, the Matadors were on a roll as last season ended, winning five of their last seven games. CSUN was seven seconds away from a berth in the CCAA tournament when Mark Otta of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hit an off-balance, three-point field goal, then converted a foul shot to complete a four-point play that gave the Mustangs a 68-67 victory in the last game of the regular season.

Cassidy is hopeful this season has a happier ending. And beginning.