Taking the Highroad, Matadors Rally to Win

Players elevating for dunks down the stretch. A program elevating to unprecedented heights.

And all at an elevation of 4,600 feet.

Trailing nearly the entire game, Cal State Northridge made its move when Brian Heinle and Derrick Higgins went skyward, defeating Southern Utah, 83-77, in front of 3,100 on Friday night in the first round of the Brigham Young tournament at the Marriott Center.

Northridge (6-2) won its fifth consecutive game, equaling its longest streak since joining Division I in 1990, and put the Matadors in the final against BYU, a 76-68 winner over Louisiana Tech.

With 2:10 to play, Heinle passed to Higgins, crashed the key, took a return pass and dunked to give Northridge a 77-76 lead, its first since the opening minutes.

Kenyatta Clyde of Southern Utah made a free throw to tie the score, and on Northridge’s next possession the shot clock was at three when point guard Markus Carr tossed an alley-oop to Higgins, who threw down the dunk for a 79-77 lead.

“We worked on that play in practice [Thursday],” Higgins said. “We recognized their zone and executed it.”

Heinle, who had career-high totals of 23 points and 14 rebounds, fought two Southern Utah players for Thunderbird Jim Faulkner’s missed shot, and Carr was fouled with 24 seconds left.

Carr missed both free throws, but Jeff Parris batted the rebound from the hands of Tyson Hancock back to Carr.

Given another chance, Northridge delivered. Carr passed to Higgins, who was fouled. The senior made two free throws with 18 seconds left for an 81-77 lead, and he dunked with five seconds left to punctuate the victory.

“This was a gut-check game,” Coach Bobby Braswell said.

“We did not defend well for three-quarters of the game, but the guys picked it up when we needed it.”

Especially Higgins, who scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half.

Higgins, a guard who leads Big Sky Conference players in steals, played a key defensive role, getting four steals and slowing Hancock after he scored 16 points in the first 23 minutes.

Hancock, a 6-7 guard, finished with 20.

“I was thinking all kinds of crazy things at halftime and just came out and did some things after that,” Higgins said.

Southern Utah (4-5) made its last basket with seven minutes to play and committed 13 turnovers in the second half.

“They did a good job of pressuring us late in the game and we did not handle it,” Coach Bill Evans of Southern Utah said.

Northridge had a hard time with Clyde, a 6-foot-8 senior who scored 25 points and made nine of 10 shots, mostly from short range. However, his last basket came with 13:33 to play.

“Early in the game we were huffing and puffing because of the thin air,” Braswell said. “But we were stronger than they were down the stretch.”

The Matadors trailed by 12 points with 11:45 remaining, but as the BYU crowd began to stream in and fill the arena, the Matadors began to creep back.

A three-point basket and a bank shot by Greg Minor were followed by a layup by Andre Larry and two free throws by Higgins to make the score 66-63 with 9:35 to play.

The Northridge defense stiffened and the deficit was cut to one point five times in four minutes, but the Matadors did not take a lead until Heinle’s dunk.

“I turned to my assistants and said, ‘We just can’t get over the hump,’ ” Braswell said.

Eventually the Matadors did, and it took the well-timed leaps of Heinle and Higgins to clear it.