Matadors’ Luck on Road Holds and It’s All Bad

ATHENS, Ohio — As luck would have it, Lucky Grundy held Cal State Northridge’s fortunes in his hands.

But the reserve guard’s wild shot from the lane in the final second wasn’t even close enough to benefit from a lucky bounce and the Matadors lost their fifth consecutive road game, 79-77, to Ohio on Wednesday night in front of 4,000 at the Convocation Center.

The Matadors battled back from a discouraging number of fouls and took possession on a rebound by Jabari Simmons with 15 seconds to play. Grundy took an outlet pass from Simmons, dribbled into the front court, hesitated at the top of the key and penetrated the lane.

Two defenders converged on him and he let fly an off-balance five-foot shot that careened harmlessly off the backboard.

Grundy, a 6-foot senior who has forged a respectable career through hard work, averages 3.2 points and is not the first player one would expect to take that shot.

“I could be second-guessed for not calling a timeout, but if we do that we have to start guessing the defense they’d go into,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. “By pushing it up the floor, they had to stay in a man-to-man.

“Lucky’s penetration started late. He took too long at the top of the key, but he got the shot up. It just didn’t fall.”

Learning more lessons about life on the road, the Matadors (2-5) were called for 35 fouls, their highest total in 29 years. No one fouled out, but five players had four fouls and four had three.

The constant whistles disrupted any sense of flow and Braswell called off his team’s full-court press in the second half.

Ohio took 18 free throws in the last 6:36 of the first half, and in one two-minute stretch, made nine of 12.

“We couldn’t do the things we do because of the way the game was called,” Braswell said. “Our guys were on eggshells.”

Ohio (2-5), which ended a five-game losing streak, made 28 of 43 free throws, including 11 of 12 by Dustin Ford. Northridge made 17 of 25.

For the second time in three days, Northridge was victimized by a hot-shooting freshman guard.

Ford, playing the point because Corey Reed injured a knee last week and is lost for the season, scored 25 points. Freshman Michael Redd scored 28 on Monday in Ohio State’s victory over Northridge, the fifth game in a row he had 20 or more.

Northridge answered with its own hot-shooting freshman, Carl Holmes, who scored 20 on the heels of his 21-point performance against Ohio State.

Ohio, shooting only 36% coming in, found Matador defense to its liking, making 46.6% of its shots and eclipsing its season-high point total by 13.

Northridge trailed, 73-67, but rallied on a three-point play by Brian Heinle, a three-point basket by Greg Minor and a layup by Simmons to take a 75-74 lead with 2:16 to play.

A layup by Simmons, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds, gave Northridge a 77-76 lead with 1:15 to play, but Ohio guard Jim Peterson made a three-pointer 13 seconds later.

Mike O’Quinn missed a three-pointer for Northridge and Ford missed to give Northridge a final shot.

“Lucky enough for us, we snuck out of the gym with a win,” Ford said.