Northridge Planning Early Start for Conference Game at Chapman

Pete Cassidy, coach of the Northridge men’s basketball team, does not wait to get stung twice before he makes an adjustment.

Last season, Northridge lost a crucial California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game to Chapman, playing poorly after it arrived at the Hutton Sports Center in Orange minutes before the scheduled tip-off.

Northridge had been stuck in traffic--”parked on the freeway,” is the way Cassidy put it--for three hours.

“They were disappointed we showed up at all,” Cassidy said. “They wanted to start almost the minute we got there. They really wanted us to forfeit.”

Tonight, Northridge again travels to Chapman. And the team will leave early--at 2 p.m., to be exact--for a 7:30 game.

“I try not to make the same mistake twice,” Cassidy said. “We’ll get something to eat and hang around campus until game time.”