Matadors Return to Take Stock

Blurry-eyed and racked by worry, members of the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team came back late Tuesday morning to the place they most wanted to be: their quake-ravaged homes.

Northridge canceled its game tonight against the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and flew back to the Southland from Denver, arriving at John Wayne Airport in Orange County and splitting up into vans for the two-hour drive to campus.

The Matadors are scheduled to play Saturday against California in Berkeley, but assistant Mike Johnson said Tuesday night he doubted that Northridge would make the trip. “I don’t think it would be fair to ask the players to go,” he said.

Coach Pete Cassidy said any decision on Saturday’s game would be made after consultation with players and school administrators. “It’s going to take a couple of days to sort things out,” he said. “I just can’t give any definitive answers.”

Cassidy asked team members to meet on campus at 11 a.m. on Thursday, but at least one player expects to need more time to piece his life back together.

Ryan Martin, a junior from Huntington Beach, said he does not expect to take part if Northridge plays Cal.

“From what I can see right now, there’s no way. No way,” said Martin, whose Northridge apartment was destroyed by the quake. “I can’t imagine the way I am right now that I’ll be able to (play). I just can’t sleep on someone’s floor for a week. I need to find a place to eat.

“I want to be out of here, safe. That’s what’s most important. Basketball is secondary to that.”

The Matadors fell to 3-12, losing, 100-85, against Colorado. Afterward Cassidy told the Associated Press, “We obviously weren’t focused. It’s understandable.

Less than 24 hours later, several Northridge players were back home, helping where they could.

From his residence just around the corner from a collapsed apartment building where 16 people died, center Peter Micelli relayed stories of heroism by two of his roommates, Alfonso Flores and Darrin Jones, both Northridge student-trainers.

Jones had helped elderly and injured neighbors from their darkened homes in the minutes immediately after the quake. He and Flores both took first-aid kits from their home and took to the streets, tending to the injured.

Micelli said he and several teammates, some of whom are now homeless, helped friends--and each other--relocate to safer areas.

Along with Martin, guards Andre Chevalier and Brooklyn McLinn, center Shane O’Doherty, forward Josh Willis, swingman Shawn Stone and assistant coaches Johnson and James Morris all had been forced to move from their residences, Micelli said.

“We were lucky here,” Micelli said as he surveyed only minor damage around his single-story rented house. “Most (teammates) are probably going to have to stay here with us, at least for a while.”

Despite the destruction in surrounding areas, Micelli said he was glad to be home. “With what we were seeing on TV at the hotel, my friends and family were the only things on my mind,” he said.

Micelli was talking to his sister by telephone Monday afternoon when a strong aftershock struck the Northridge area.

“She just started screaming, and I could hear my mom and my other sister in the background and they were screaming too,” he said. “She said, ‘It’s happening again. It’s happening again.’

“I felt so helpless. It was frustrating. You’re sitting there and there’s nothing you can do.”

Micelli said he was ready to return his attention to basketball but added that he understand if some of his teammates did not share his enthusiasm.

“We’re not a team that can afford to stop practice and come back and win any games,” Micelli said.

“But that’s on my mind because I have a place to live. I don’t think the other guys are thinking about practice. They’re thinking about where they’re going to live next week.

“This definitely trivializes sports. We have to deal with these things first before we can go on with the privileges in life.”

* FRIGHT NIGHT: Amy Windmiller, a Cal State Northridge softball pitcher, managed to flee her Northridge Meadows first-floor apartment, even as the ceiling caved in during Monday’s temblor. B4

* SCHEDULING SHAKE-UP: Because of possible earthquake damage to the Sports Arena, USC and Clipper basketball games will be played at other venues. C3