Matadors Renew Friendships in Loss

It seemed like old times from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. days when Cal State Northridge and Cal State Los Angeles went down to the wire at Matador Gymnasium on Saturday night.

It meant nothing to Cal State L.A. that Northridge stepped up to Division I after 28 years in the CCAA. And the Matadors certainly didn’t play the part of an uppity host--they lost, 76-74.

It was the sixth consecutive loss for the Matadors, who have not won a game since Coach Pete Cassidy went down with an intestinal condition four games ago.

Northridge (7-17) scored eight points in the last 37 seconds of the game, but CSLA’s Gilbert Miller rebounded his own missed foul shot with four seconds left to preserve the win for the 11-14 Golden Eagles.

“Sometimes you suffer indignities that cost you the opportunity to be heroes,” said assistant coach Tom McCollum, who is directing the Matadors in Cassidy’s absence.

“No one feels worse than those kids . . . . But the guys that didn’t do the job in that moment did a heck of a job over the last four minutes.”

Miller and Chris Brooks, a sophomore from Dorsey High, shared game- high honors with 16 points.

“We knew we had more talent because to us, they are not a Division I school,” Brooks said.

CSLA Coach Henry Dyer was a bit kinder.

“I don’t think they were at full strength and it takes a year or two to do what you want to do at Division I. Plus, you have some borderline Division I- Division II players.”

The Matadors, who were minus starter Keith Gibbs and sixth-man David Keeter, to illness and injuries, respectively, led by 10 at halftime, but fell behind by 11 with a minute 41 seconds left.

Eighteen seconds later, Andre Chevalier scored to rally the Matadors.

In the next 23 seconds, he sank three of four foul shots then, after a pair of free throws by the Eagles, CSUN’s Dave Swanson swished a three-point basket to pull Northridge within five, 73-68.

The Matadors’ Sean Davis stole the ensuing in-bounds pass and was immediately fouled. His free throws made it 73-71, but the visitors countered with two free throws of their own with 34 seconds left.

Northridge missed its next two shots, but with seven seconds remaining Kyle Kerlegan banked a three-point basket off the glass to make it 75-74. Gilbert’s free throw followed for the 76-74 final.

Kerlegan finished with 14 points and four steals and Chevalier had 14 points and nine assists.

“We’ve lost a lot of confidence the past two weeks,” Kerlegan said. “It is hard. We hit a cold spell in the second half and they got hot. We just couldn’t get over the hump.

“It is not our opponent and it is not our (lack of) effort. Our toughest opponent now is something lingering in the back of our mind that we can’t get a win right now.”

Notes

Northridge hit six three-point baskets to break the school’s single-season record for three-point baskets. The Matadors have 153 on the season, four more than the previous record, set in 1988-89, when CSUN made 149.