Northridge Can’t Climb Out of Hole
At first glance, Cal State Northridge’s 78-75 Big Sky Conference loss to Montana on Thursday night at Matador Gym could be classified as another example of the Matadors’ inability to finish.
It looked like the latest chapter to a season that has seen them lose all five of their games that were decided in the final 15 seconds.
Forget about that, though. The real story is an inability to start.
Northridge fell behind by 11 points in the first half and 14 in the second half. Digging holes has become a bad habit for the Matadors.
“The problem is we always have to fight back,” said junior guard Derrick Higgins. “We’ve got to start fighting from the beginning.”
The Matadors trailed Northern Arizona by 18 in the second half Saturday, rallied to within one, but still lost.
“The last couple of games we’ve dug such a deep hole that it takes so much energy and effort to dig out,” said Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell. “We’ve got to find ourselves a way not to get in those.”
The Matadors (8-11, 4-5 in conference play) had a shot to tie the score in the final seconds.
Montana’s J.R. Camel missed two free throws with 16.6 seconds to play. The Matadors rebounded trailing, 77-75.
After a timeout with 12.7 seconds left, Northridge point guard Lucky Grundy took the inbounds pass, then dribbled around the three-point arc for a few seconds. When he tried to cut toward the basket, Camel stripped the ball.
“It was supposed to be a lob to Keith [Higgins] and they didn’t switch like we planned,” Grundy said. “I saw that and didn’t want to throw it away. Then I just took too long to make a decision. By the time I made one, it was too late and it cost us the game.”
A foul during a scramble after Camel’s steal led to Montana’s Chris Spoja making one of two free throws with 0.8 seconds to go. After he missed the second, Northridge could not get off a desperation heave before the buzzer.
“Sometimes it doesn’t come down to Xs and Os, it just comes down to players making plays,” said Northridge point guard Trenton Cross. “And we haven’t been able to make a play at the end of a game.”
Cross, though, was one of Northridge’s bright spots. He came off the bench and scored a career-high 24 points on eight-for-14 shooting in 25 minutes. He had seven assists and made all six of his free throws.
Northridge got off to its usual sloppy start--turnovers, poor rebounding and bad shooting--while Montana bolted to an 18-7 lead.
But Braswell then brought Cross off the bench, replacing Grundy, and Cross played perhaps his best half of the season. He scored six consecutive points and eight in a 14-2 run that gave the Matadors a 21-20 lead.
The Grizzlies (15-8, 7-4) finished the half with a 12-4 run to take a 41-33 halftime lead.
Montana stretched the lead to 49-35 early in the second half, but Cross led another comeback. His scoring and passing, including three alley-oop passes setting up dunks by Derrick Higgins, helped Northridge take its final lead, 64-63, with 7:36 to play.