Long Wait Ends for Matsubara in CSUN Win

Darren Matsubara had waited a long time.

Two and a half years to be exact.

That’s how long he had lingered on the sidelines before becoming eligible to play basketball for Cal State Northridge.

But the 6-1 senior took center stage on Saturday night as the Matadors rallied for a 72-63 victory and their first win at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo since 1985.

Matsubara scored a season-high 27 points at a very opportune time for CSUN, which was coming off a blowout loss at Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Matsubara said after helping the Matadors run their record to 11-5 overall, 2-1 in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play. “The wait was worth it, no doubt.”

Matsubara, whose ineligibility was prolonged by a complicated transfer from Hawaii Pacific, made 9 of 13 field-goal attempts and 7 of 9 free throws. And on the occasions he penetrated and didn’t shoot, he created high-percentage opportunities for his teammates.

“I’ve been watching myself on tape a lot,” Matsubara said.

And what had he seen?

“I was doing a lot of passing around the outside, not doing much of anything.”

And what had he used during Saturday’s game, teammate Kris Brodowski inquired in the locker room afterward?

“Oh, yeah, Kris’s body glove,” Matsubara said.

“No,” Brodowski said. “You used common sense.”

Said Matsubara: “I’m still going to wear that body glove every game from now on.”

Whatever Matsubara used best, it helped stop a San Luis Obispo team that had been on a roll.

The Mustangs (10-5, 2-1) had won 7 of their past 8 games and had not lost a conference game at home since the 1986-87 season.

San Luis Obispo led, 56-52, with 6 minutes left when CSUN mounted its decisive rally.

Matsubara made a 3-point shot to cut the Mustang lead to 1 and after CSUN forced San Luis Obispo into a 10-second backcourt violation, Karl Becker swished a 10-footer from the baseline to give the Matadors the lead for good, 57-56.

The suspense wasn’t over, however.

Northridge was clinging to a 3-point lead with a little more than a minute remaining and only a few ticks left on the 45-second clock when Matsubara converted a jump shot to give the Matadors a 66-61 lead.

The elation of CSUN and its guard-of-the-night was temporary. Only 11 seconds after hitting perhaps the key shot of the game, Matsubara was gone. He was called for his fifth foul while trying to strip the ball away from the Mustangs’ Coby Naess.

But Jemarl Baker and Derrick Gathers each made 2 free throws and Todd Bowser added a short jump shot down the stretch as the Matadors held off San Luis Obispo.

It was a somewhat ironic finish because Gathers and Bowser, CSUN’s top two scorers, combined for only 14 points.

Gathers, who came in averaging 18.5 points a game, made 3 of 15 field-goal attempts. He made up for an off-night shooting in other departments, however. He led all rebounders with 12 and added 4 steals.

Gathers acknowledged afterward that, in this case anyway, a bad shooting night was for the best.