Death of His Brother Forces CSUN’s Morris to Miss Game

James Morris, the catalyst for the Cal State Northridge basketball team in its most recent victory, will not be with the Matadors when they play host to Southern Utah on Saturday night.

Morris is at his mother’s home in New Orleans after the recent death of his brother.

He is expected to meet the Matador squad in Phoenix on Tuesday and be in the lineup Wednesday against Northern Arizona.

Despite his sixth-man status, Morris is the Matadors’ third-leading scorer with a 7.9-points-per-game average in 17.6 minutes per game.

Morris, a junior guard who transferred in from Imperial Valley College last fall, leads Northridge in steals (21) and in three-point shooting percentage (47.6%).

In an 81-77 win over Montana State on Tuesday, Morris sank two free throws with 16 seconds left to sew up the Matadors’ third consecutive win.

Twenty seconds earlier, the 5-foot-8 Morris tied up a Montana State player for a jump ball that gave Northridge a crucial possession.

In just 14 minutes, Morris scored 16 points, including three three-point baskets at critical times.

“I’ll miss him,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “He’s done that on more than one occasion.

“He just ignites a spark in us. His stats were great last game. He did a great job, but family comes first.”

Cassidy was not surprised that Morris excelled despite Morris learning of his brother’s death a few days earlier.

“I’m not a psychologist, but the best thing that can happen is to stay busy, to keep your mind off it,” Cassidy said.

“I asked him if there was anything we could do. If he wanted to take a day or two off, but he said he wanted to stay busy. He knew how he was going to handle it.”

Northridge point guard Andre Chevalier said he impressed by how well Morris handled the situation.

“It has been really hard for him,” Chevalier said. “He held it in. Didn’t show it in public. He had no breakdown and he didn’t bring the team down by being sad.

“We are going to miss him a lot. He’s a big contributor. He had to go home and comfort his family and let them comfort him so we gotta go out and win this one for him.”

Cassidy said that David Keeter and/or Ryan Martin probably will take over for Morris.