CSUN Takes the Road Less Traveled : College basketball: Matadors post first win away from home in rout of Northeastern Illinois.

After eight insufferable losses in noisy, inhospitable arenas, the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team finally met its match on the road Monday. Against a Northeastern Illinois team that is also playing Division I basketball for the first time, the Matadors dominated, 109-82.

In winning its first road game of the season, Northridge (4-9) also produced its largest margin of victory (27 points) and tied its season high for points.

“It feels pretty good,” said CSUN’s Kyle Kerlegan, who scored 21 points on seven three-point baskets. “We felt a couple times we could have done it earlier, but we let it slip through our fingers. Now we feel like we can get a few more on the road.”

CSUN found its shooting touch, hitting a season-high 57.1% from the field--including 64.2% from three-point range--in building a 32-point lead. The Matadors also re-established their fast break, scoring 16 points on layups and 10 on dunks.

“We never stopped (fast-breaking) from Day One,” CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy said. “It is just that some teams stop you. We suspected we might be able to run on this team.”

For a change, the Matadors didn’t have to battle a partisan crowd--only 75 spectators showed up in Northeastern’s P.E. Complex. Like CSUN, Northeastern (1-13) is an urban school fighting established colleges and a slew of professional teams for crowd support.

Moreover, CSUN did not face Northeastern’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, Minson Rubin, who was ruled academically ineligible earlier in the day.

Northridge could do no wrong in the first half, rolling up a 55-30 lead. The 55 points marked the Matadors’ most productive first half of the season.

Kerlegan swished all four of his three-point attempts in the first six minutes and teammate Keith Gibbs, who has struggled with a 35% field-goal shooting average, hit all four of his first-half shots en route to a season-high 21 points on 88% shooting.

In his best performance since gaining his academic eligibility two games ago, 6-foot-7 center Percy Fisher asserted himself inside with 15 points and five rebounds.

Shelton Boykin, Gibbs and David Keeter also hit the boards with eight, six and five rebounds, respectively, as CSUN outrebounded the Golden Eagles, 46-35.

Matador notes: Kerlegan moved into third on CSUN’s career list for three-pointers, with 50, despite having played just 13 games. . . . Brian Kilian warmed up but was not able to play because of lower back pain.