CSUN Plays Poorly in 69-68 Loss to UC Davis

All season long, Cal State Northridge basketball Coach Pete Cassidy has been reserved in his comments about his team.

He has offered praise at times and been constructive in his criticism. But after the Matadors’ 69-68 loss to UC Davis in a nonconference game Friday night, Cassidy vented his frustration.

“We played horribly,” Cassidy said. “We constantly allowed ourselves to get penetrated by their guards time after time . . . . We weren’t staying down in our defensive stance.

“They simply kicked our butts. We played like dog meat.”

Tom Neumayr, a standout at Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College, led the Aggies with a game-high 19 points. But he had plenty of support from his teammates down the stretch.

Mark Jensen hit two free throws with one minute and 52 seconds left to give Davis a 66-64 lead. Then, after Jemarl Baker’s shot knotted the score, 66-66, Jensen hit a 10-foot jump shot from the right side to give the Aggies a 68-66 advantage with 1:02 remaining.

The Matadors’ Derrick Gathers, who was playing with an injured shooting (right) hand, drove the baseline to tie the score, 68-68, with 38 seconds left.

But Eugene Humphrey fouled Michael Arnold as he drove to the basket with 14 seconds remaining, and Arnold hit the second free throw to give the Aggies their margin of victory.

Northridge set up a final play for Gathers, who finished with 18 points, after a timeout. But his 10-foot jump shot with four seconds left failed to drop and Baker’s attempted tip-in also missed.

“We had the right guy taking the shot,” Cassidy said of Gathers, who was nine of 24 from the field. “But it just didn’t fall for us.

“We just got outhustled tonight. They weren’t quicker than us, they just outhustled us. They were tougher than us in the end.”

The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for Davis (2-9) and dropped Northridge to 3-6.

The Matadors shot only 39.1% (27 of 69) from the field after hitting 47.5% of their shots in a 81-70 loss to Division I Cal State Fullerton nearly two weeks earlier.

Baker had 14 points for Northridge, while Kendell McDaniels and Bill Mazurie each added 11.

Humphrey, who suffered a neck injury when he was involved in a hit-and-run automobile accident on Thursday, scored just three points against Davis.

Northridge trailed, 34-30, after making only 11 of 37 (29.7%) shots from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Gathers, who entered the game shooting 42.1%, had eight points at halftime on four-of-15 shooting. But he wasn’t the only CSUN player struggling. Starting center Kris Brodowski, who was zero from 13 from the field in the previous two games, hit a 16-foot jump shot to start the game, but missed his next five attempts.

Baker was the only Matador to shoot better than 50% in the first half, making three of five shots.