Northridge Reaps What Others Sow

The seed was planted nearly a month ago.

And Thursday night it blossomed into Cal State Northridge’s 74-56 upset of Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament before 1,483 at Northern Arizona’s Walkup Skydome.

Although the critical stretch was a 25-6 Northridge run in the final 11 minutes, the Matadors started prepping for this victory the moment they picked up the newspaper on Feb. 9.

They read a quote from Montana State’s Dante Rabb, who said after the Bobcats’ four-point victory at Northridge that his team had won because it wanted the game more.

Northridge senior Keith Higgins, the first one to take the microphone in the postgame press conference Thursday, wasted no time in verbally jabbing the Bobcats.

“We just wanted it more,” said Higgins, turning and giggling with his teammates. “That [quote] motivated us to play harder. We kept seeing that quote all over the place.”

During the game’s decisive stretch, the Matadors seemed to get to every loose ball, every rebound.

“I think we probably played as solid as we’ve played all year during that last 10 minutes,” Coach Bobby Braswell said.

Northridge (13-14), the sixth-seeded team in the six-team tournament, advanced to a semifinal matchup against Northern Arizona (21-5), the regular-season champion, at 8:35 PST tonight in Flagstaff.

The Matadors, now two victories away from the school’s first NCAA tournament berth, lost both regular season games against the Lumberjacks, although they trimmed a 24-point second-half deficit to two points before losing, 76-74, last week.

“I think we are going to need to step it up a notch [tonight],” Higgins said. “We can’t play like we played [Thursday].”

The Matadors did not play their best for most of the game, but they also didn’t play their worst. And that was the key. In several games this season, including both regular-season losses to Montana State (16-14), the Matadors dug themselves a double-digit hole in the first half before pulling out of their doldrums too late.

“That was something Coach Braswell really stressed,” said center Tom Samson, who led the team with 11 rebounds. “We couldn’t come out and get in a 10-point, 15-point hole. So we decided to start the game in a full-court press and that definitely got our defense going.”

The game could not have been much closer for the first 29 minutes, with neither team leading by more than four points and the lead changing hands 24 times.

With 10:55 to play and Northridge trailing, 50-49, Derrick Higgins drilled a three-point basket that put the Matadors up, 52-50.

The 25th lead change was the last.

The Matadors then forced a backcourt violation just before Trenton Cross, who scored 16 points, swished a three-point shot. A few seconds later, Derrick Higgins (17 points) sank another three, giving Northridge a 58-50 lead with 9:30 to play.

After trading baskets for a couple of minutes, Northridge’s defense took over. The Matadors led, 62-54, with 7:43 to play.

By the time the Bobcats scored again--6:56 after their last points--Northridge had blown open the game with a 10-0 run.

“We took it upon ourselves,” Keith Higgins said, “to show this team that there was no quit in us.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big Sky Conference Tournament

At Northern Arizona University

All Times Pacific

First Round

* No. 6 Cal State Northridge 74, No. 3 Montana State 56

* No. 4 Weber State 68, No. 5 Idaho State 58

Semifinals--Tonight

* Weber State (15-12) vs. No. 2 Montana (19-10), 6:05 p.m.

* Cal State Northridge (13-14) vs. No. 1 Northern Arizona (21-5), 8:35 p.m.

Championship--Saturday

6:05 p.m.; Televised on tape-delay basis on ESPN at 9:30 p.m.