Northridge Lets Little One Get Away
Cal State Northridge remained in the locker room longer than usual after its five-game winning streak ended in a 74-68 loss to Montana on Thursday night.
Presumably the Matadors spent the time writing on the chalkboard, “There are no gimmies. There are no gimmies.”
Not even against an opponent mired in its worst season in more than two decades.
Not even four days after upsetting two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion Northern Arizona.
“We were not ready to play and they had nothing to lose,” Northridge center Brian Heinle said. “On paper we have a better team.”
Northridge (14-9, 6-5 in conference play) squandered a chance to pull within one game of first place in the loss column. Northern Arizona lost to Montana State on Thursday.
“That makes it doubly frustrating,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. “We had a bad week of practice and took them for granted.”
The Matadors were tentative against the Grizzlies’ matchup zone defense and shot 33.3%. Montana (11-12, 4-8) has won three in a row since implementing the zone and each victim has shot less than 40%.
Only guard Greg Minor shot well for Northridge, making six of eight, including four three-pointers, for 17 points.
Minor made three three-point baskets midway through the second half to keep Northridge close, and a layup by Jeff Parris on an assist by Derrick Higgins tied the score, 66-66, with 1:45 to play.
However, on Montana’s next possession, Jason Crowe fouled Mike Warhank with one second left on the shot clock and Warhank made two free throws.
Higgins missed a shot and although Parris outwrestled Matt Williams for the rebound, Heinle missed an open three-point shot with 45 seconds to play.
“I thought it was good,” said Heinle, who scored eight points on three-of-11 shooting after scoring 45 points in the last two games.
“I had a good look and I’d take it again.”
Cory Reiser made two free throws to extend Montana’s lead to 70-66 with 35 seconds left, and after a Northridge timeout, neither Minor nor Heinle could launch a three-point attempt.
By default, Parris took one that clanked off the rim with 13.5 seconds left.
Half of Northridge’s 36 rebounds came on the offensive end, but the Matadors scored only eight second-chance points. Nobody but Minor made even half his shots.
“We missed so many easy twos,” Minor said.
Stymied by Montana’s zone, the Matadors made eight of 23 field-goal attempts in the first half but trailed only 35-33 because they made 15 of 17 free throws.
The entire half was sloppy. Northridge turned the ball over 14 times and committed 12 fouls. Not to be outdone, Montana had 16 turnovers and 13 fouls.
Parris led Northridge with nine points, including seven of eight free throws, then picked up four fouls in less than three minutes, the last coming with 3:27 left in the half.
“That’s a coaching mistake,” Braswell said. “I should have had him on the bench.”
Parris played only five minutes in the second half, when Northridge cut the turnovers to two but made only 13 of 40 field goals.
Montana, which shot 52.1%, was led by Williams with 26 points on nine-of-14 shooting.
Matador Notes
The five-game winning streak Northridge had snapped began with a 92-88 victory over Montana in Missoula. . . . After a raucous crowd 1,358 watched the Matadors upset Northern Arizona on Saturday night, only 922 attended Thursday’s game. “I think that disappointed our guys when they came out and saw the smaller crowd,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. . . . The Grizzlies got off to 1-8 start in the Big Sky Conference under first-year Coach Don Holst to put them in danger of missing the conference tournament for the first time in 22 seasons. . . . Montana was without 6-7, 265-pound senior center Nate Sil, who missed his first game with a shin injury.
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Greg Minor
* 17 points
* Four 3-pointers
Brian Heinle
* Eight points
* Nine rebounds
