Gathers Starts to Thaw in CSUN Win Over Cal Poly Pomona

As shooting displays go, a seven-for-16 performance is nothing remarkable.

But when you’re Cal State Northridge forward Derrick Gathers and you’ve been mired in a five-game slump during which you’ve made 11 of 54 shots, a decent game seems like a perfect game.

Gathers scored a team-high 19 points Friday night to break out of his shooting funk and lead the Matadors to a 75-68 victory over visiting Cal Poly Pomona in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball game.

The win was the second in the past three games for Northridge (11-13, 6-5 in conference play) and puts the Matadors in a three-way tie for third in the CCAA standings with Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Furthermore, the Matadors could move into a tie for second with a victory tonight at UC Riverside.

“This wasn’t a must win,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “But it was extremely important. The coaching staff felt that we really needed to win this game. If we hadn’t, we would have been in mathematically still, but it would have been a very steep mountain to climb.

“As it is, we control our own destiny and that’s always nice.”

After leading, 40-25, at halftime, Pomona whittled Northridge’s lead to 62-59 with 3 minutes 49 seconds left, but the Matadors went on a 12-4 run and took a 74-63 lead on Gathers’ layup with 22 seconds left.

Gathers (nine rebounds) and Jemarl Baker (14 points) had four points each during the run.

Kendell McDaniels added 15 points and eight rebounds for Northridge, which avenged a 103-90 loss to Pomona last month.

“By and large, I think we controlled the tempo of the game,” Cassidy said. “And I don’t think they were comfortable with that.”

Terry Ross, the CCAA’s leading scorer (21.6 average) and rebounder (12.2), had 19 points along with a game-high 11 rebounds for the Broncos (8-16, 2-9), but he didn’t burn the Matadors in the manner he had in their first encounter (30 points on 14-of-21 shooting).

Down by 15 points at halftime, Pomona opened the second half with a 12-4 run in the first three and a half minutes to narrow the deficit to 44-37 with 16:38 left.

Northridge scored four of the next six points to take a nine-point lead with 15:30 left, but the Broncos countered with a 22-16 run.

Leading, 21-16, with 7:55 left in the first half, the Matadors went on a 19-9 run at the end of the first half.

Baker started the Matador outburst with a four-point play (he was fouled on a three-point basket) with 7:36 left, and Percy Fisher’s turnaround bank shot--on an assist from Kirk Scott--with 35 seconds remaining capped it.