Northridge Falters Despite Furious Rally

Nearly overcoming a 23-point deficit, Cal State Northridge lost to Loyola Marymount, 77-74, as Lucky Grundy’s desperation three-point shot missed at the buzzer in a nonconference game at Gersten Pavilion on Saturday night.

The loss was especially disheartening to Coach Bobby Braswell because the Matadors had battled back from the halftime deficit.

“You look back on games like this and say, ‘God, if only we could have done this or that,’ ” Braswell said. “Games like this hurt.”

Loyola, meanwhile, could only breathe a sigh of relief.

“Those big leads can be curses sometimes,” Coach John Olive said. “I was happy with the poise of our kids surviving that onslaught.”

Loyola opened the game with an 11-0 run. Northridge did not score their first basket until five minutes had passed and, even then, the Lions answered with another 6-0 run to increase their lead to 17-2.

As if things weren’t bad enough for Northridge, point guard Trenton Cross left the game because of possible cracked ribs after a collision under the basket.

At the start of the second half, Matador senior guard Gerald Rhoden, who finished with a team-high 26 points, continued his scoring streak as Northridge put together a 16-2 run.

And Grundy, a walk-on pressed into duty after Cross’ injury, came through with a pair of three-point shots as time wound down.

But the Matadors appeared to run out of steam in the final minutes. At roughly the same time, Lion sophomore guard Tim Kennedy picked up his game, scoring the bulk of his career-high 18 points.

“It all came down to how much they wanted to win this game,” Braswell said. “We weren’t ready to fight.”