Northridge Tries to Get Cooking Again at Home

Losing suddenly has become a concern for the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team, off to its best start in Coach Bobby Braswell’s four seasons.

The Matadors (10-5, 2-2) last week dropped consecutive games for the first time this season, losing Big Sky Conference games at Portland State and Eastern Washington.

Northridge plays at home tonight against Montana State and Saturday against Montana.

But not without reliving some painful memories.

Montana State eliminated the Matadors from the Big Sky tournament in the last two seasons, including a 91-90 victory in the opening round last season at Weber State.

In that game, the Matadors squandered a 22-point first-half lead and was weakened by the absence of forward Jeff Parris, who missed his only game of the season because of back spasms.

Parris is back this season. But so is Jeff Riggs.

Riggs, a senior guard for Montana State, made a fall-away jump shot over Markus Carr of Northridge with 1.4 seconds to play last year in the tournament.

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Edniesha Curry of Northridge continues her assault on school and conference record books.

Curry, a junior guard, is 184 points shy of the school career scoring mark. Curry has 1,217 points. Denise Curry (no relation) holds the Matadors’ school record with 1,401. Julie Arlotto ranks second with 1,364 points.

Edniesha Curry ranks as the Matadors’ career leader in scoring average and three-point field goals and three-point shots.

Curry averages 12.2 points this season to lead the Big Sky conference.

With three more three-point shots, Curry will break the Big Sky career mark of 472, set by Marisa von Bromssen of Northern Arizona.

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The Northridge women’s team, in first with a 4-0 Big Sky record, plays before the cameras this week.

The Matadors’ games at Montana State on Thursday and at Montana on Saturday are televised by Montana Power and Fox Sports Net Northwest.

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Guard Felix Lang of Valley College and forward Desmond Penigar of Ventura were selected men’s basketball co-players of the week in the Western State Conference.

Lang’s three-point basket with 19 seconds remaining in regulation tied the score, 69-69, in a WSC game against Glendale.

The sophomore from Hamilton High scored five of his 21 points in overtime and Valley won, 83-76.

The Monarchs (16-5, 3-0 in Southern Division play), are ranked No. 16 in the state.

Penigar scored 28 points in Ventura’s 81-77 victory over Hancock on Saturday night. The freshman from Upland leads the WSC at 22.4 points per game.