CSUN Blasts Sacramento Just for Fun

There have been blowouts, several in fact, none of which the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team enjoyed more.

The Matadors, used to being on the east side of most lopsided scores, vented their wrath on hapless Cal State Sacramento Saturday night at the Northridge gym.

Rotating in lineups the way hockey teams change lines, Northridge powered past the Hornets, 90-54, before a crowd of 596 in what marked the biggest rout for the Matadors since the fourth game of the 1988-89 season.

That opponent was Bethany College, an NAIA school.

Sacramento plays in NCAA Division I, but the Hornets are a gang who can’t shoot straight.

Sacramento made 38% of its shots, which is slightly better than its season average. However, Sacramento also committed 30 turnovers while making only 19 shots.

“It happened to us so much during the year,” Northridge center Peter Micelli said of the blowout. “It feels so good to turn it around on somebody.”

Northridge’s goal was not to defeat, but to bury the Hornets, a theme Micelli said he repeated several times during timeouts and other breaks in the action.

The Matadors certainly picked a ripe opponent. Sacramento has lost 20 in a row and in 48 tries has never won a road game since joining Division I in the fall of 1992.

With forward Michael King and swingman Arthur Tate serving one-game suspensions, the Hornets suited up only seven players. Sacramento’s bench was an odd scene: Five coaches in suits and two reserve players.

King, who along with Tate did not make the trip because of unspecified “disciplinary reasons,” is Sacramento’s leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer.

In King’s place, Michael Boyd, a freshman from Gardena, stepped up to score 21 points. Edwin Williams added 11 points and nine rebounds.

For Northridge (7-16), Micelli scored 17 points, with Brent Lofton, Andre Chevalier and Robert Hill each scoring 13. Ten Northridge players played at least 14 minutes and all 11 players scored.

“It was good to see everyone playing and having fun,” Chevalier said.