At Northridge, the Throws Won’t Be Free : College basketball: Thanks to an 11-year-old’s kindness, halftime foul shots will raise money for Flowers, a recruit who never became a Matador.

John Flowers will never play basketball for Cal State Northridge, yet he has succeeded where promotional events and marketing plans by the school have failed.

Because of him, Northridge’s 2,000-seat gymnasium is expected to be at near capacity tonight for a game between the Matadors and St. Mary’s.

Flowers last season averaged 16.4 points for Phoenix College, a community college in Arizona. A 6-foot-4 swingman, he could leap past, run around or simply shoot over those who attempted to guard him.

But an Aug. 10 car accident in Kansas City changed everything.

Flowers, Northridge’s top recruit and the first basketball player the school had signed from beyond state boundaries, suffered injuries that led to five operations and the eventual loss of both legs.

He has been to Northridge twice.

The first time, before the accident, he was on a recruiting trip.

The second time, on Dec. 19 of last year, he and his family were guests of Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy for the Matadors’ home opener against Cal State Fullerton.

At that game, he met Joshua Hay, Northridge’s ballboy. And Hay is the main reason Flowers will visit Northridge for a third time tonight and perhaps arrange to enroll in school there next fall.

Flowers said he remembers Hay “talking to me a lot” as they sat near the end of the Matador bench. What he didn’t know was that even then Hay, a fifth-grader at West Valley Hebrew Academy, was plotting to help Flowers.

Later that night, Hay, 11, approached his father, Jacques, with the idea of raising money for the Flowers family.

“He said, ‘Dad, I think I can raise a lot of money,’ ” Jacques Hay recalled. “That day he started on the phone, setting up hypothetical situations with friends, saying, ‘If I shot five free throws, how much money would you give me for each one I made?’ ”

As of Monday afternoon, the answer was $770 a shot.

And Josh won’t be shooting alone.

The Hays have recruited about 20 organizations, most of them Northridge fraternities and campus clubs, to gather pledges and sponsor representatives who will shoot five free throws at halftime. After the game, there will be an auction of team jackets and autographed basketballs donated by the Lakers and Clippers.

Jacques Hay estimates that nearly $10,000 will be raised for a fund that has been established to defray medical expenses and help pay for Flowers’ college education.

Tony Smith of the Lakers is scheduled to appear. So, too, are several local television sportscasters--some to report the story, some to shoot free throws and others to do both.

For Northridge, in its third year as an NCAA Division I independent, the task of attracting crowds, corporate sponsors and media attention has been frustrating. The Hays have had no such difficulty.

With the help of “Shooter,” a cartoon-like mascot and self-proclaimed champion miniature basketball player, the Hays have organized three days of receptions, speaking engagements and travel for the Flowers family.

An airline flew Flowers, his father, John Sr., mother, Valda, and younger brother, Jay, 15, to Burbank free. They arrived at the airport on Sunday, only an hour after the Northridge team had returned home after a loss Saturday night against Cal State Sacramento.

The team was met by a school van. Flowers was greeted by camera crews and reporters.

Sam Lagana, who is in his third year as director of promotions and marketing for the Northridge athletic program, was at the airport to welcome the Flowers family.

“I’ve never seen this kind of outpouring of support,” Lagana said. “It’s phenomenal.”

Joshua Hay said the fund-raiser has become “a lot bigger than I thought,” adding, “It has been a lot of work for me and my dad, but it’s going to pay off. It’s a good deed, and that’s what counts.”

Flowers, who struggled to get around using a walker when he started rehabilitation three months ago, can walk on his prostheses with the help of two canes. He has been slowed a bit during the last few weeks because of nerve damage near the stumps of his legs, but he said the emotional roller coaster he has been on since the accident has fewer dips.

“When you know people are behind you all the way like this, there’s nothing better than that,” Flowers said. “Sometimes when I get to thinking about it, Jacques and Josh will call and we’ll start talking and it picks me right back up.”

Joshua Hay calls Flowers two or three times a week to update him on the progress of the Northridge basketball team. He did not, however, tell him much about the arrangements for this trip.

Flowers said he was unaware of the scope of tonight’s fund-raiser until he was given a copy of a news release as he was preparing to board his flight at the Phoenix airport.

He said his visit has been “a little nerve-racking,” but added, “When people are this nice to you, all you can do is return their gratitude and do the best you can. I’m trying to make them feel as good as they’re making me feel.”

Of Joshua Hay, Flowers said, “I just love him to death. What he and his dad have done for me . . . nobody thinks of stuff like this at his age. He’s special.”

Hay, who showed Flowers around his Woodland Hills grade school on Monday, said he hopes enough money can be raised to allow Flowers to attend the college of his choice.

That choice remains Northridge.

“I think I want to be a physical therapist, you know, to give something back,” Flowers said. “Northridge is a good school for that.”

When he heard of Flowers’ plans, Joshua Hay beamed.

And Jacques Hay said, “My son has received 10 times more out of this than anyone else has.”