Flex Offense Overpowers Northridge

A lot of heart. Not a lot of muscle.

The description fits Cal State Northridge perfectly, as the Matadors showed by getting pushed around--but always pushing back--in Saturday night’s 73-67 Big Sky Conference loss to Idaho State before 1,067 at Matador Gym.

“I wish I could come in here and say our guys didn’t play hard,” said Coach Bobby Braswell, searching for an explanation. “I wish I could say [the Bengals] just wanted it more. And you look at the rebounds and all the loose balls they picked up, it may have looked like they wanted it more.

“But I think we just got outmuscled.”

Idaho State’s 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward Rob Preston scored 26 points and 6-8, 250-pound center Nate Green added 19, having their way with the Matadors smaller inside players.

Of Idaho State’s 25 baskets, 18 were from the lane and five of the other seven came on three-pointers.

The Bengals bolted to a 14-point first-half lead while Northridge center Tom Samson was on the bench with two fouls.

By losing its final two games of the season, Northridge (12-14, 8-8) dropped into sixth place. The Matadors will play Montana State, which beat them twice this season, in the first round of the conference tournament Thursday in Flagstaff, Ariz.

With a victory, the Matadors would have finished fourth and played Weber State, which they beat twice.

“It’s gut check time,” Samson said. “We’ve got to decide how many more games we want to play. If it’s just going to be one, then what’s the point. . . .

“We can beat any team in this league if we play our game and execute. But the last two games we sure haven’t showed it.”

As they have so many times this season, the Matadors fell behind early, trailing by as many as 14 in the first half. They made another strong comeback, pulling to within three on several occasions in the second half.

Derrick Higgins scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

On two occasions when Northridge had the ball and trailed by three points, the Matadors turned it over, once on Higgins’ bad pass and once on a five-second violation by Matt Andrews. Those were two of the Matadors’ season-high 27 turnovers.

The other play that had Braswell wringing his hands late in the game was when Samson had a shot blocked by Preston with 40 seconds to play and Northridge down by four. Braswell thought it was goaltending.

“I think it is a call they blew,” Braswell said. “I’m not saying that lost the game, but that was a huge call.”

Idaho State (14-12, 9-7) found ways to beat Northridge’s traps and presses and constantly pounded the ball inside for easy layups against a Matador defense that was severely softened after Samson picked up his second foul in the first two minutes of the game. A 15-1 run gave Idaho State a 22-12 lead and the Bengals went into the locker room ahead, 42-30.