Northridge Show Canceled--Again

Get the remote control. Nothing on this channel but reruns.

It’s this horrible show. Goes like this: a basketball team falls behind early, makes a comeback, falls behind again, and ends up losing. Over and over.

Sure, it’s tough to watch. Try playing in it.

“This is enough to make you suicidal,” said Cal State Northridge point guard Trenton Cross after the Matadors lost, 83-79, to Montana State on Saturday night before 940 at Matador Gym. “We play hard, we play hard, we play hard. We execute at the end, and the shots just don’t fall for us.”

For the third consecutive game, Northridge (8-12, 4-6 in the Big Sky Conference) overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half to pull within two or fewer in the final minutes. And for the third consecutive game, the Matadors lost.

“I’m a little tired of it, too,” said Coach Bobby Braswell, whose team has lost four in a row. “But these kids are hurting more than all of us.”

The difference between this game and the other two was the Matadors played fairly well. The Bobcats just played better. They fended off Northridge by making 13 of their last 15 free throws. And they took the lead early because guard Danny Sprinkle hit six of seven three-point shots in the first half.

Perhaps the one play that hurt Northridge the most came with 48.9 seconds to play and Montana State up, 75-72. The Bobcats (13-11, 7-5) missed a three-point shot, but instead of Northridge getting the ball back with a chance to cut its deficit, Montana State got three consecutive offensive rebounds before drawing a foul.

“That sequence said it all right there: We wanted it more than them,” said Montana State’s Dante Rabb.

But Northridge’s Tom Samson, who scored 16 points on eight-for-nine shooting, disagreed: “That’s as far as you can get from the truth. It’s not a matter of who wanted it more. It’s a matter of where their bodies were and ours weren’t.”

Cross played his second consecutive outstanding game, scoring 22 points in 27 minutes. Derrick Higgins added 13, including two highlight-reel reverse layups in the first half.

Northridge trailed almost the entire first half, falling behind by 10 points and only breaking through briefly with a two-point lead.

Montana State took a 38-31 lead into the locker room because of Sprinkle, who made his first five three-point shots. Sprinkle, who came into the game shooting 49.8% from three-point range, had nearly half of his team’s first-half points. His hot shooting forced the Matadors to play more zone defense.

“Sprinkle really hurt us,” Braswell said. “That set the tone and we couldn’t play the game the way I wanted to play the game.”

But Northridge began the second half poorly, with its possessions ending in bad passes, offensive fouls or poor shots. Meanwhile Montana State pulled to a 46-33 lead, its biggest of the game, with 15:49 to play.

The Matadors got as close as 66-64 with 5:34 to play.