CS Northridge Upsets No. 16 Dominguez Hills to Stay in Playoff Hunt

Their chances of success may not be the greatest, but, from all indications, if Cal State Northridge does indeed fail to qualify for postseason play, the Matadors will not have gone quietly.

Faced with the prospect of having to beat the top two teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. in its last three games, Northridge cleared major hurdle No. 1 Saturday night, upsetting 16th-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills, 68-61, at the CSUN gym.

Dominguez Hills, which defeated previous No. 1 UC Riverside last week, remained tied for first place in the CCAA since UC Riverside also lost, 88-75, to Cal State Bakersfield in overtime. The Toros, who had won nine in a row, are 18-7 overall, 10-2 in conference games.

For Northridge, there was no room for error.

The Matadors put themselves in the position of needing a giant-killing by losing to Chapman on Thursday. CSUN is 15-10 overall, 6-6 in the CCAA with games at Cal Poly Pomona and Riverside next week.

Northridge must win its remaining games and Chapman, which defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 79-72, on Saturday, must lose two if the Matadors are to qualify for the four-team CCAA postseason tournament.

Kendell McDaniels, who often didn’t play for Northridge in early season games, played a major role in keeping the Matadors alive.

The 6-4 freshman scored only eight points, but two came on a slam dunk between defenders with the Toros closing in with five minutes remaining.

McDaniels was one of several heroes for Northridge. Alan Fraser led the Matadors in scoring with 17 points, including a pair of baskets in the final three minutes.

Jemarl Baker, who scored just six points, accounted for the first blocked shot of his collegiate career with 26 seconds left in the game, rejecting an attempt by Barksdale from about 10 feet out.

Even seldom-used Andre Henry, who played only five minutes, was singled out by Cassidy after the game.

Coming into the game for the first time with 6:38 left and Dominguez Hills closing ground, Henry effectively slowed the tempo and dished off a picture-perfect bounce pass to Fraser who made a layup to put CSUN up, 59-54, with three minutes to go.

Northridge had built a 51-43 advantage with 9:01 left in the game when the Toros went 6 1/2 minutes with only one field goal.