Northridge Finally Cools Off, and St. Mary’s Wins, 79-72

The law of averages caught up with Cal State Northridge, and when it did, St. Mary’s raced by on its way to a 79-72 victory Monday night in a nonconference game before 407 at the Northridge Gym.

Chris Johnson rebounded from a slow start to score a career-high 29 points as St. Mary’s (12-8) won its sixth game in a row and third on the road in five days.

Johnson, a senior reserve, made six of seven three-point attempts and scored 24 points in the second half as the Gaels quickly erased a 12-point halftime deficit.

Northridge (5-14) shot 73.9% to open a 40-28 halftime advantage. Take away Eric Gray’s four misses from three-point range and the Matadors were 17 of 19 in the first 20 minutes.

“That was a freak,” said Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy, whose team was shooting 39% coming into the game. “It’s not realistic to duplicate that for another half.”

Northridge didn’t, shooting 40% in the second half as St. Mary’s made 13 of 21 shots (61.9%).

St. Mary’s outscored Northridge, 23-3, in the first six minutes of the second half as Johnson made three three-point shots in a row. Brent Farris scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half for St. Mary’s.

Northridge had a chance to tie with 40 seconds remaining, but Ryan Martin missed a three-point shot.

Trenton Cross, a freshman from Reseda High, paced Northridge with 16 points.