CSUN Lives Up to Its Billing in 90-79 Win

Pete Cassidy said he gets the same uneasy feeling every time during warm-ups.

He wonders about his team’s emotional state, whether his players are at an emotional edge--high enough for an adrenaline rush and steady enough that the shots are sure and the passes crisp.

But usually he is alone with those worries.

Before Cal State Northridge’s game against Quincy (Ill.) College on Thursday, the coach of the Matadors wasn’t the only person fretting.

This time he was joined by some of his players.

“I can admit this now,” guard Brooklyn McLinn said after the Matadors posted a 90-79 nonconference victory, “but before tonight I was scared.”

Thrust into a role of decisive favorites for the first time this season, the Matadors (5-7) staved off the Division II Hawks with sharp long-distance shooting and a few well-timed doses of pesky defense.

A combined 58 points by McLinn, Andre Chevalier and James Morris, Northridge’s trio of guards--Triple Threat, they call themselves--didn’t hurt, either.

As expected, Northridge’s most troublesome opponent turned out to be itself. But while the Matadors were outrebounded, 40-29, they countered that lackadaisical effort by forcing 20 turnovers and making 12 steals against Quincy (6-8), which was playing its third game in three days.

Chevalier, a junior, scored a personal-high 25 points. He made all 10 of his free throws. However, Chevalier also committed six turnovers, a statistic indicative of Northridge’s sloppy play, Cassidy said.

Coming off an emotional win over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, Northridge sometimes played listlessly.

Quincy, a team that, like Northridge, has three starting guards 6-foot or shorter, held a 13-4 advantage on the offensive boards.

“It was like playing ourselves, kind of,” said McLinn, who had 17 points. “I think because we’re small, people don’t think they need to box out against us, either, and we sneak the rebound.”

The score was tied, 47-47, early in the second half when Northridge went on a 19-3 run over a span of 6 1/2 minutes. Chevalier, McLinn and Morris capped the spurt by making consecutive three-point baskets.

Reggie Bell, a former Hawthorne High and College of the Canyons standout, said fatigue dragged Quincy down during Northridge’s decisive second-half spree.

“It’s been a long road and it’s taken its toll,” said Bell, who had 12 points and seven rebounds. “That spurt in the second half really hurt us. They were getting out and running and we weren’t recovering. That and they were knocking down those threes.”

Northridge, which has won three in a row, shot a season-best 51.9% and was even better, 52.6% (10 of 19), from three-point range. With the exception of forward Chris Yard, the Matadors also enjoyed a healthy advantage at the free-throw line. Northridge, despite Yard’s three of 12, made 26 of 39 compared to Quincy’s 14 of 18.

Quincy led by as many as five points in the first half, but by intermission Northridge had rallied for a 41-40 advantage behind unexpected sources--freshmen Robert Hill and Josh Willis.

Hill and Willis took advantage of their limited playing time by each making consecutive three-point baskets during a late first-half surge.