Exhibitions Give CSUN Jump-Start : College basketball: Matadors’ second Division I season will be prefaced by two dress rehearsals.

Without benefit of an exhibition game last season, Cal State Northridge made its Division I basketball debut at Colorado.

For the first 10 minutes of the game the Matadors forgot their nerves, but as play wore on they were shell-shocked. Colorado won, 113-89.

This season, Northridge will have two dress rehearsals before opening Nov. 22 in Indianapolis against Butler.

Tonight at 7, the Matadors (8-20 last season) will meet the University of Victoria (Canada) and on Nov. 14 they will take on High-Five America, a traveling post-collegiate team. Both exhibitions will be played at Matador Gymnasium, where Northridge was 6-5 last season.

“It gives us games under our belt against outside competition,” Coach Pete Cassidy said. “There’s a lot to be learned against a system that we’re not familiar with. It is good to have to make adaptations.”

Three of Northridge’s starters tonight were regulars last season--sophomore point guard Andre Chevalier (9.8 points per game, 4.5 assists per game), senior shooting guard Keith Gibbs (9.0 ppg, 4.0 rebounds per game) and senior power forward Shelton Boykin (6.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg). The new starters are senior center Percy Fisher (8.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg), who backed up departed senior Todd Bowser last season, and freshman shooting guard Ryan Martin of Ocean View High in Huntington Beach.

Cassidy is reluctant to put too much pressure on Martin because of his freshman status, but it is significant that Martina has beaten out seniors David Keeter and David Swanson.

“I feel he’s progressing very, very well,” Cassidy said. “He does a lot of things well without the basketball. He understands spacing, he uses screens well and he works very hard to get open. He won’t take bad shots.”

James Morris, a junior transfer from Imperial Valley, is also a candidate to start at either guard position but he might not play tonight because of a pulled groin muscle.

The rest of the 13-man squad is expected to see action. “I’m not at a set lineup,” Cassidy said. “I want to get a good look at everybody. With officials and people in the stands, we want to see how everyone responds.”

Among those Cassidy is eager to observe: guard Brooklyn McLinn, a sophomore walk-on; senior forward Brian Kilian; and junior forward John Moses, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College.

Victoria was 27-10 last season and a semifinalist in the Canadian national tournament.

After an 80-50 loss to Cal State Bakersfield in an exhibition game Wednesday, Victoria is 2-3. Guard Tom Johnson and Chris Brinnen combined for 23 points.