Matadors’ Upset Bid Gets Criss-Crossed

After Cal State Northridge’s crushing 61-59 loss to Nevada Las Vegas on Saturday night before 13,066 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center, Brady Mertes put his arm around Trenton Cross, consoling his friend.

It was Cross whose errant pass whizzed by Mertes just as he was heading the other way, sailing out of bounds for a turnover with Northridge down by a point and 4.9 seconds to play.

“I just made a mistake,” said a dejected Cross. “That’s all I can really say.”

The Matadors had gotten the ball back with 12 seconds to play when Kevin Taylor blocked Tony Lane’s shot. Cross grabbed the ball and dribbled downcourt. But instead of driving to the basket for a layup or to draw a foul--as he was supposed to--Cross passed the ball backward to a spot that Mertes had just vacated.

The Rebels got the ball back, added a point on a free throw and won the game when Mertes’ in-bounds pass with 2.6 seconds left was intercepted by UNLV’s Mark Dickel.

“I’ll take this one,” Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said after his debut. “I didn’t have us prepared at the end of the game. I should have had a last-second play.”

The Matadors, who lost to UNLV by 24 points in last year’s opener, were not satisfied with coming close this time.

“I’m not a good loser,” Braswell said. “I don’t take losing well. Close isn’t good enough for this basketball team.”

Northridge, which never trailed by more than five points after the game’s opening minutes and had several small leads throughout the game, was led by Derrick Higgins’ nine points. Taylor had 11 rebounds.

Northridge’s lack of height--the Matadors have no one taller than 6-foot-8--was exploited immediately by the Rebels’ 6-11 Keon Clark, who had five blocks in the first four minutes of the game.

The Rebels bolted to a 9-0 lead before Northridge began to come back, not coincidentally after Clark sat down for a breather. The Matadors tied the score, 11-11, on a dunk by Higgins.

Northridge stayed close the rest of game, which was impressive because they were in foul trouble early. Cross picked up his second foul with 12 minutes to go in the half and was benched until intermission.

That forced the Matadors to use two walk-ons--Lucky Grundy and freshman William Davis--at point guard.

The teams traded momentum for a few minutes, until Northridge took a 51-49 lead on Grundy’s three-pointer with 6:59 to play and a 53-49 lead on Taylor’s layup off a no-look pass from Keith Higgins with 6:18 to play.

But they couldn’t hold the lead. UNLV went ahead for good, 56-55, on Warren Rosegreen’s jumper.