CSUN Leaves Pomona Lair With Overtime Loss, 87-78

After his Cal Poly Pomona team defeated Cal State Northridge, 87-78, in overtime Wednesday night, Pomona Coach Dave Bollwinkel did not want to talk about what a surprise it is to see the Broncos 2-0 and sitting atop the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. standings.

“We’re not surprised at all,” said Bollwinkel, whose team upset eighth-ranked UC Riverside last Friday. “We’ve played both our conference games at home and that’s certainly an advantage.”

CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy would not disagree.

Cal Poly Pomona (7-8, 2-0) has a record of 7-1 at home this season. The Broncos have won four in a row.

CSUN (9-5, 1-1) did a good job containing Pomona center Tony Theisen, who came into the game averaging 15.9 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.

Theisen finished with 11 points and 2 rebounds, but as Cassidy noted, “They have more guns than Theisen.”

Start with junior guard Chris Jefferson, who followed an 18-point performance against Riverside with 24 against CSUN.

Jefferson made 7 of 12 field-goal attempts and 3 of 5 three-point shots, but his biggest play of the game came with just five seconds left and Pomona trailing, 68-67.

Jefferson was setting up for a three-point shot when CSUN’s Ray Horwath came out to apply some pressure. Jefferson faked a shot, then leaned into Horwath to draw a two-shot foul.

He made the first free throw to tie the score and when he missed the second, the game went into overtime.

“He had made two or three in a row so I knew he was going to shoot,” said Horwath, who led CSUN with 18 points. “He gave me a little pump fake and it didn’t take much to get me up in the air.”

During the overtime period, Jefferson and guard Galen Dedmon pressured CSUN into a couple of turnovers that fueled a six-point surge, putting the Broncos ahead, 78-71 with 1:46 left.

“They seemed like they got a little tired at the end,” said Jefferson, a transfer from Rancho Santiago Junior College. “I think we were in better shape.

“Now we’ll see what we can do on the road.”

A high point for CSUN was the record-setting performance of Pat Bolden, who scored 15 points to move into the 10th place on the all-time CSUN scoring list. Bolden has 850 points and moved ahead of Ben Balke.

Pomona led, 35-34, at halftime behind the play of Jefferson, who had nine points.

CSUN handled Pomona’s pressure defense with poise, committing just three turnovers in the first half.

Despite Horwath’s 11 points, CSUN trailed for most of the first half.

The Matadors did take the lead, 23-22, with a little more than eight minutes left in the first half on a basket by forward Sherdrick Bonner.

CSUN led, 32-29, with 2:05 left in the first half before the Broncos closed out the half with a 6-2 run on baskets by Nate Macon, Jefferson and Dobbs.