Rally Falls Short for Northridge

The Cal State Northridge basketball team was less than 14 minutes from its 17th road loss in less than two seasons Sunday when an unusual thing happened: the Matadors began a comeback.

Trailing by 21 points with 13:53 to play, the Matadors climbed to within six before falling, 73-67, to Southern Illinois. For a team that lost its road games by an average of 28.6 points a year ago, the rally was indeed impressive. A few in the crowd of 4,735 at SIU Arena saluted CSUN’s comeback with chants of “moral victory, Cal State.”

But Matador Coach Pete Cassidy would have none of that.

“We came here to win the ballgame,” Cassidy said. “The hell with moral victory.”

Twice in the game’s last minute, Cassidy ran a play that required freshman Ryan Martin to cut closely off a screen in heavy traffic. Both times Martin was fouled, giving Northridge four points from the foul line.

Three times in the last 54 seconds, Cassidy put in Brooklyn McLinn, who had not been charged with a foul, to foul as soon as the Salukis inbounded the ball. Unfortunately for CSUN, which dropped to 0-2, SIU sank six of its last eight free throws.

The officials called 61 fouls and slowed the game to a snail’s pace. In the first half, particularly, the reputation of Ashraf Amaya, Southern Illinois’ all-Missouri Valley Conference forward, appeared to influence the officials.

Though Amaya couldn’t hit an uncontested shot from two feet, he managed to get four Northridge post players into foul trouble. Center Percy Fisher, reserve center Brian Kilian, and forwards Shelton Boykin and John Moses each had three fouls by halftime.

Amaya, 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, missed six of seven foul shots and five of six field-goal attempts before intermission. In the second half, he went to the line seven more times and finished with a team-high 17 points and 13 rebounds.

The Salukis (1-0) shot 23 foul shots to CSUN’s 14 in the first half and considering their underdog status, the Matadors could ill-afford to miss their precious chances at the line. But they did--eight times.

The Matadors finished the game 22 of 32 from the line while Southern Illinois converted on 29 of 41 attempts.

CSUN also committed 13 turnovers in the first half and 23 for the game. But despite their mistakes, the Matadors trailed by only nine at halftime, 36-27, because SIU made just 30% of its shots.

With the Northridge big men in foul trouble against the Salukis, who have six players 6-7 or taller, Cassidy opened the second half in a zone defense. But Marcus Timmons responded by firing consecutive three-point baskets over the zone, sparking a 16-4 run that gave SIU a 52-31 advantage.