After Staying Close, Northridge Falters and Loses to Utah, 75-58

After closing to within four points with 8 1/2 minutes to play, Cal State Northridge faltered down the stretch and lost to 10th-ranked Utah, 75-58, Saturday night before 14,394 at Huntsman Center.

The Matadors (0-8) have lost 11 consecutive games dating to last season.

The Utes (8-1) played without honorable mention All-American Josh Grant, who is still recovering from knee surgery and will probably redshirt.

Reserve guard Jimmy Soto, who keyed an 8-0 surge that enabled Utah to pull away, scored a game-high 19 points.

“In that one bad stretch, we made some foolish mistakes,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “Every possession is so critical. But we played hard and we played well. We are showing improvement.”

Northridge center Percy Fisher blamed his team’s collapse on lack of intensity. “Personally, I think we gave up,” Fisher said. “We don’t keep the intensity for the full 40 minutes. We’re a 35-minute club. We know we can win but we let ourselves get down by three and then by 10, then we come back in contention and then we get down again.”

Northridge shot 54.5% in the first half, 36% in the second half.

Brooklyn McLinn led Northridge in scoring with nine points and Fisher, Keith Gibbs and Andre Chevalier each scored eight points.