CS Northridge Playing Out the Season, 80-43 : College basketball: Alabama Birmingham puts game out of reach with 26-2 burst at start of game.

Consistency proved the undoing of Cal State Northridge’s basketball team Sunday.

The Matadors shot below 30% from the field, the foul line and the three-point line as Alabama Birmingham took an 80-43 victory before a crowd of 3,963.

“Horrible, wasn’t it?” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “We missed too many layups and we gave UAB too many second shots. We simply didn’t play with enough enthusiasm to compete with a team of UAB’s caliber.”

The game, originally scheduled one day earlier at Northridge, was moved to Birmingham because of earthquake damage at the Northridge campus. Before the game, Alabama Birmingham Athletic Director and Coach Gene Bartow presented Cal State Northridge with a $5,000 check from Rust International Corp., for earthquake relief.

Alabama Birmingham (20-6) hit its first five shots and 10 of 11 while the Matadors (7-18) hit two of their first 12 shots from the field. The Blazers led, 26-2, with 12 minutes 32 seconds left in the first half.

The Matadors, who end their season Thursday at San Diego State, finished the first half shooting 18.5% from the field and trailed, 41-13.

“Collectively, we played with a little bit more enthusiasm the second half,” Cassidy said. “Individually, there’s really nobody to mention.”

Northridge was 17 for 60 (28%) from the field, four for 17 (24%) from outside the three-point line, and five for 17 (29%) from the free-throw line.

“We saw the film on their Notre Dame game and we were concerned,” Bartow said. “But the way we played the first 10 minutes would have beaten a lot of people. We were making the extra pass, shooting the high-percentage shots, and following our shots. We can’t play much better offensively.”

Carter Long led the Blazers with 21 points. Peter Micelli was Northridge’s leading scorer with 10 points. Andre Chevalier, Alabama native Shawn Stone and Ryan Martin had seven points each and Stone had 10 rebounds.