Matadors Undercut, Beaten in Overtime

Cal State Northridge sure isn’t making friends at Northern Arizona.

First the Matadors upset the top-seeded Lumberjacks in last year’s Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament, then nearly did it again Saturday night at Walkup Skydome.

Northridge erased a 16-point second-half deficit and forced overtime, but the Lumberjacks pulled out an 86-85 victory, extending their Walkup Skydome winning streak to 16 games.

Ross Land of Northern Arizona made a free throw with 1.4 seconds left in overtime to turn back the Matadors and keep the Lumberjacks (12-6, 6-2 in the Big Sky Conference) on pace with Montana State in the conference.

Northridge (7-11, 3-5) seemed to be wilting at the 7,000-foot elevation when the Lumberjacks pulled ahead, 51-35, with 13:14 left. But the Matadors got back into the game with a 9-0 surge.

“Our kids never quit tonight,” Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said. ‘It was an ugly game, but it was two teams battling hard.’

Trenton Cross, who had 18 points, hit a leaner in the lane with 1:42 left in regulation to tie the game for the first time, 72-72. The teams traded free throws and the game went to overtime at 74-74.

Northridge scored the first five points of overtime to take its first lead. But the Lumberjacks, the leading three-point shooting team in the nation, made three from behind the arc to take an 83-81 lead with 2:29 left. Cross’s basket with 1:19 left tied the game, 85-85.

Northern Arizona rebounded Cross’ miss with 20 seconds left and held the ball for a last shot. Land was shoved by Greg Minor with 1.4 seconds left and made the first free throw but deliberately missed the second one to let the clock run out.

Andrew Mavis scored 24 points for Northern Arizona.