Grand Canyon Embarrasses Northridge

Cal State Northridge hit rock bottom Monday night, sent there by an NCAA Division II school with an appropriate name.

Grand Canyon, from the same conference Northridge left five years ago, downed the Matadors, 88-82, before 329 at Northridge.

Horacio Llamas scored 26 points and Tyrome Finney added 19 for Grand Canyon, which shot 58.9%.

Eric Gray and Shane O’Doherty each scored 18 points for Northridge, which also got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Peter Micelli.

Grand Canyon, which leads the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. by half a game, improved to 11-8 overall. Northridge is 4-13.

So this is how far Northridge has come in five years in Division I.

Could be, said Micelli, a fifth-year senior, before adding, “or you could say these 15 guys didn’t come out and play hard.”

Gray, who fired in four three-point baskets, described the outing as “one of the most embarrassing things I’ve gone through.”

Could Northridge have been cocky?

“I don’t think in our position we can take anyone lightly,” Micelli said. “I don’t know why we would. It’s embarrassing. We played like cowards.”