Braswell Listens to His Mom

It was a bittersweet night for Bobby Braswell.

The first-year coach of the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team won his first game as the Matadors routed Cal State Dominguez Hills, 77-57, Wednesday night in the regular-season home opener.

But a victory that should have been truly savored was tempered for Braswell by the death of his father, James Braswell Jr., on Tuesday.

“I wasn’t really sure if I was going to make it here tonight,” Braswell said. “My mom told me to get out of the house because I had some boys out here who were depending on me.

“There is not one man alive who has affected me as much as he did. . . . He taught me everything. I’m going to miss him.”

The Matadors (1-1) helped soothe the pain for Braswell by dominating Dominguez Hills (0-3) from the tipoff.

They led by as many as 14 points three times in the first half and settled for a 38-26 halftime edge as Braswell substituted freely. All 13 Matadors who suited up played and 12 of them scored.

The Matadors unleashed a relentless full-court press and half-court trap that gave Dominguez Hills fits, particularly at the beginning of each half.

Northridge capitalized on mistakes made by the Toros and pulled ahead, 67-37, on a three-point basket by Trenton Cross with 8 minutes 12 seconds to play. It was the biggest lead of the game for the Matadors.

“[Defense] is the one thing we have to keep consistent,” Braswell said. “We know we have to defend and not let teams set up on us. . . . We just feel defense has to be the one constant for us.”

The Toros, a Division II team, committed 28 turnovers, 14 in each half. Forward Keith Higgins had five steals for Northridge, center Tom Samson had four and forward Gerald Rhoden came up with three.

Cross, a junior point guard, scored 20 points for Northridge and Rhoden added 16 points. Samson led all rebounders with 10.

Rhoden, a 6-foot-5 senior, said the Matadors were especially motivated because of the death of Braswell’s father.

“It inspired us because we wanted to do it for him,” Rhoden said. “We knew how he felt inside and we wanted to show him that we were not going to let him down.”

Forward Jair Fray scored 21 points for the Toros. Fray scored 34 points for Dominguez Hills in a season-opening 92-83 loss to Biola on Nov. 15.

Northridge made 54.2% (32 of 59) of its shots but could barely find the basket from three-point range, making five of 17 for 29.4%, and the free-throw line, sinking eight of 17 for 47.1%.