Matadors Get Right Down to Business

Cal State Northridge took care of business Thursday night. On the court and at the box office.

The first-place Matadors maintained their one-game advantage in the Big Sky Conference, leading from start to finish in a 92-68 rout of Montana before 1,362 at Northridge.

Northridge (17-9, 10-3 in the Big Sky), with three regular-season games to play, completed its first season sweep of Montana (10-15, 5-9) while moving closer to clinching the right to host the six-team conference tournament March 8-10.

Marco McCain’s three-point basket in the opening minute ignited a 10-2 run and the Matadors, as the saying goes, never looked back.

Meanwhile, their followers were looking forward.

Tickets for the Big Sky tournament sold rapidly in the Matadome lobby during the game. The school began taking orders Thursday and had sold more than 200 by tipoff.

Capacity of the Northridge gym is 1,600.

Northridge plays its final home game Saturday against Montana State before closing the regular season with games at Eastern Washington and Portland State.

Eastern Washington, a 77-64 winner over Idaho State on Thursday, is a game behind Northridge and beat the Matadors earlier in the season.

“I don’t know if we’re peaking right now; I don’t like that terminology,” Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said. “I just felt we had a good basketball game [Thursday night]. It might have been the best 40 minutes we played all season.

“I challenged the guys to be business-like. Just be a great team [Thursday night].”

Center Brian Heinle, a favorite to be the conference’s most valuable player, recorded his 15th double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds.