This Is No Act, Brother : Matadors Try to Take First Things First

Cal State Northridge basketball players have straddled a fine line this week.

Knowing that winning the Big Sky Conference tournament championship would qualify them for the NCAA tournament, the Matadors still have been trying to focus on their first round opponent, Montana State.

“If you look ahead, you will be looking back [at the tournament, from home],” said forward Keith Higgins, who played in the Big Eight Conference tournament before transferring to Northridge from Colorado. “But [the NCAA tournament] is always in the back of your mind. That’s what should motivate you.”

For starters, the Matadors (12-14) must find a way to beat the Bobcats (16-13) in a first-round game tonight at 6:05. Northridge lost both games in the regular season, but this game should be different.

Montana State will be missing a key player.

When Montana State beat Northridge, 83-79, at Matador Gym last month, a major factor in the game was the shooting of Bobcat guard Danny Sprinkle, who made six of nine three-point shots and forced the Matadors to come out of an otherwise effective press.

Sprinkle is out for the season, having suffered a separated right shoulder and a broken left wrist three weeks ago. The Bobcats have made 37% of their shots in four games without Sprinkle.

Montana State has added Damon Ollie, a 6-foot-6 forward. The former North Hollywood High standout was among the team’s leading scorers and rebounders before he broke his ankle in December. He returned to the lineup two weeks ago. Although he’s not scoring much, he has given his team a boost in the rebounding department.

“Having Ollie back gives them some presence inside,” Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said, “and for us, we are always concerned about the inside people muscling us and not being able to stop people down there.”

If Northridge’s inside players can stay out of foul trouble and control Ollie and 6-8 center Nate Holmstadt, who averages 17.7 points per game, the Matadors have a chance to win.

A victory would put Northridge into a semifinal game Friday against Northern Arizona (21-5), the conference’s regular-season champion.

The Lumberjacks and second-seeded Montana (19-10) have first-round byes. A team that received a first-round bye has won the tournament in six of the seven seasons this format has been used.

But Montana State Coach Mick Durham, whose team was recently pounded, 65-47, by Montana, said it might not be Northern Arizona cutting down the nets Saturday.

“I really think Montana is determined,” Durham said of the Grizzlies, who won 11 of their last 13 conference games. “Their seniors are really leading them.”