Without the Magic, CSUN Disappears

The magic that once allowed Cal State Northridge basketball players to perform far beyond their usual capabilities must have escaped between cracks in the plaster left by the earthquake.

Call it what you want--Matadome, Epicenter--but the Northridge gymnasium no longer seems a special place for the Matadors.

Southern Utah (14-10), routinely road kill when playing away from the cozy confines of snow-bound Cedar City, made itself at home Thursday night and escaped with a 68-61 victory in a nonconference game before 411.

Northridge (7-17) has lost half of its eight home games.

Playing without forward Brent Lofton, Northridge shot a measly 37% and allowed Southern Utah to hit at a clip of better than 65%.

Lofton, a 6-foot-5 senior, is no whiz kid on defense, but he surely would have helped the Matadors at the other end. He scored 96 points in his previous seven games.

Instead, he could only watch from the bench, dressed in street clothes. Earlier in the day, Northridge team doctors told Lofton that they did not like the looks of an electrocardiogram test he took on Wednesday.

“They said there was no cause for alarm, but the EKG didn’t come out clean,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “We’re going to make damn sure he’s ready before we play him.”

Lofton, who will be examined again today, periodically has been experiencing chest pains since early February, Cassidy said. Of late, he also has been fatigued and occasionally short of breath.

Without Lofton, Northridge had only half its contingent of four seniors in uniform for the final home game of their college careers. Chris Yard, his surgically repaired right knee in a full-length brace and his broken right hand in a cast, took a seat on the bench not far from Lofton.

Left were guards Andre Chevalier and Brooklyn McLinn, who performed admirably.

Chevalier, typically a whirling dervish, was in trademark form, scoring 23 points with six steals, seven assists and, most extraordinarily, a team-high six rebounds. His final assist was his 130th, establishing a school season record.

McLinn made only six of 17 shots, but he scored 14 points and made two steals with only one turnover in 34 minutes.

However, McLinn missed a chance to give Northridge the lead when he failed to convert on two free throws with 1:47 to go.

After Ryan Martin sank a pair of free throws with 2:07 to play, the Matadors failed to score again. Northridge’s final four possessions ended on three missed layups and an off-mark three-point attempt.

Chevalier already owns Matador career records for steals, free throws and assists, and now assists in a season.

Yet he also seems to have established a trend.

With each new milestone comes a loss.

“Every time, something happens,” he lamented. “When I got my career high (for points), we lost. When I got my 1,000th point, we lost. Now tonight. . . .

“If God gave me one thing I could do, I think I’d take this whole year over.”