St. Mary’s Sweeps Past CS Northridge

Cal State Northridge arrived conveniently for St. Mary’s and Coach Ernie Kent, losers of three straight and facing a West Coast Conference basketball opener Friday at Loyola Marymount.

After Kent, who is black, spent Tuesday afternoon avoiding questions about whether he would support the Black Coaches Assn. boycott on Saturday, his Gaels went out and gave him an unofficial night off, blowing out Northridge, 93-66, in a nonconference game before 1,576 at McKeon Pavilion.

St. Mary’s is scheduled to play at defending conference champion Pepperdine on Saturday.

“I can’t say what I’m going to do,” Kent said afterward, “without knowing all the details. The timing of it has us all scattered.”

St. Mary’s forged a 36-29 lead at the half and made short work of the Matadors (3-11) thereafter. The Gaels scored 15 unanswered points to open the second half.

A.J. Rollins led St. Mary’s (7-4) with 24 points, including 18 in 13 minutes in the first half. Rollins, a 6-6 sophomore, scored 12 points in the game’s first six minutes as the Gaels raced out to a 16-6 lead.

Northridge played without forward Chris Yard, its top scorer and rebounder. Yard has an injured right knee. Guard Brooklyn McLinn paced the Matadors with a career-high 24 points.