Benchmark Win for CSUN in 84-60 Rout

Let’s do this the easy way. Is there a Cal State Northridge basketball roster handy?

Take it out and check all of the names. Those are the guys who played well Friday night in an 84-60 nonconference win over San Francisco State at the CSUN gym.

Coach Pete Cassidy emptied his bench against the Gators and had to like what he saw. The Matadors shot 55%, held a 42-28 edge in rebounding, forced 17 turnovers and virtually did whatever they pleased.

Northridge used 11 players and 10 scored. Pat Bolden, Chuck McGavran and Jermal Baker each scored 14 points. Six others had between 5 and 9.

“When we make a substitution, there is absolutely no dropoff that I can see,” Cassidy said.

Northridge (4-2) opened up a 13-point lead at the half with a suffocating defense that permitted San Francisco State just 22 field-goal attempts.

Todd Bowser, the Matadors’ 6-8 sophomore center, held John Anderson, his 6-11 counterpart, to only seven points.

His strategy was simple. The man can’t score if he doesn’t touch the ball. And the Bowz, as he’s called, wasn’t the only CSUN player who can take a bow for his defense.

In one four-minute stretch in the first half, San Francisco made 1 of 9 field-goal attempts and committed 3 turnovers. The Gators shot 42.3% and made only 1 of 10 three-point attempts.

The Matadors ran the fast break when given the opportunity and also used discretion when it wasn’t there. They did the kind of little things that put a smile on a coach’s face. Things like making the right pass against the full-court press and making the extra pass with a big lead.

“We’re playing very unselfishly right now,” Cassidy said. “A lot of that has to do with the character of the players.”

Having talent that stretches to the end of the bench obviously doesn’t hurt, either.