CSUN Survives a Close Call to Post Victory in Overtime : Matadors Rally to Beat CS Sacramento, 100-98

It will be but a single notch in the win column, but Wednesday night’s nonconference match-up between Cal State Northridge and Cal State Sacramento ended up being a best 2 out of 3.

Give Sacramento a big advantage in game 1, the first half.

Do the same for Northridge in the second 20 minutes.

Then score it game, set and match for Northridge in overtime, 100-98.

The Matadors improved to 7-2 with the victory but, more important, CSUN finally came away with a win in a close game.

“We needed this game, it was a must game every way you look at it,” Northridge center Todd Bowser said. “Up to this point, when we’d been tested we had not responded well. We needed to prove we could do it.”

The score was tied, 92-92, at the end of regulation after Northridge came back from a 15-point halftime deficit.

It was still tied, 96-96, with 1:55 left in the overtime period, but Northridge forced consecutive turnovers and took the lead for good on a 3-point play by Kris Brodowski with 22 seconds left.

Bruce Woodard made 2 free throws to draw the Hornets within a point, 99-98, when he was fouled by Bowser with 11 seconds left.

Sacramento (8-4) then made a key mistake. It took the Hornets 5 precious seconds to find a CSUN player to foul. And when they did, it was Karl Becker, a 73% free-throw shooter.

Becker made the first end of the 1-and-1 but missed the second. Sacramento’s last shot was a hurried, one-handed 15-footer by Woodard that bounced off the rim.

Bowser, who was as sloppy as any player during a first half in which he missed 3 layups, responded with 11 second-half points to finish with 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.

And he did it all while limping around on an injured left ankle.

“The guy deserves a badge of courage just for playing,” Coach Pete Cassidy said.

Although the ankle might have been a factor in his poor first half, Bowser said that he simply tried to forget he was hurt in the second half.

It was best that most of the Matadors forget the first 20 minutes. Northridge shot 26.2% and trailed, 48-33.

Guard Robert Martin, who came in averaging 26.8 points, did most of the damage in the first half. He scored 20 points, including 16 in the first 10 minutes. At that point, Martin had 1 more point than Northridge, which fell behind by as much as 19.

Derrick Gathers, CSUN’s top scorer with a 17.5 average, was 3 for 12 in the first half. But he switched roles with Martin at halftime.

While Martin was being hounded by Becker, Gathers heated up for 20 points in the second half, finishing with 25.

Consecutive 3-point shots by Gathers enabled Northridge to finally catch Sacramento with 7:37 left in regulation.

“It was a matter of me putting the first half out of my mind,” Gathers said. “I’m a shooter and I knew I’d come around. I’m not going to stop shooting.