Game Is Last Thing on Minds of Northridge Players

The Cal State Northridge basketball team lost to Colorado on Monday night, 100-85, but the thoughts of the players were back home.

The 17 players, coaches and managers learned earlier that their community was the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake.

“(The game) almost becomes secondary--almost, hell, it is secondary,” Coach Pete Cassidy said.

His 24-year-old daughter, Erin, called him around 5:40 a.m. Monday at his hotel in Boulder to tell him she, her mother and brother were trapped in their third-floor Northridge apartment but were fine.

As the team began watching the devastating televised reports of familiar sights, friends and families began calling. Said center Peter Micelli: “You watch TV and you say, ‘Oh my god, I know where that is,’ and you see our science building burning down and, you know, you walk there every day.”

Micelli’s mother called to tell him her home was badly damaged, but she was safe.

Micelli had not heard from his roommates or friends living in the collapsed Northridge Meadows apartment building. Two of his teammates also lived in the demolished building.

“The scariest thing I went through was, I was talking to my sister on the phone and there was an aftershock and she started screaming,” Micelli said. “And my heart just went through my throat.”

Said Cassidy: “I don’t think anybody wants to be here right now, as beautiful as Boulder is, as Colorado is. There’s a tremendous concern on the part of all of us--we want to go home and help.”

All things considered, the team played well against Colorado. The Matadors (3-12) led 52-47 early in the second half before Colorado (7-6) went on a 10-0 run.

Micelli had an off night, missing all eight of his shots and scoring only two points, but Andre Chevalier made seven of 11 shots and scored 19 points, and Brooklyn McLinn had 18.

Colorado’s Donnie Boyce, a 6-5 point guard, scored 22.