Northridge Is One Victory Away From NCAA Berth

Fired-up Cal State Northridge moved within a victory of its first NCAA tournament appearance Friday night, blowing out Weber State, 91-74, in a Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal before 1,420 at Northridge.

The Matadors (21-9), the Big Sky’s regular-season champion and tournament hosts for the first time, bolted from their locker room to the delight of a crowd filled with red-and-black shirts, the school’s colors.

“The crowd was great,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. “I felt like I was at Duke or something. I almost started to cry when I went out there.”

Soon, Weber State was black and blue.

Northridge made 11 of its first 13 shots and jumped to a 22-9 lead. Center Brian Heinle’s short jump shot in the opening minute gave the Matadors a 2-0 lead and the game grew more lopsided from there.

“I think we were just ready to get back on the court,” Heinle said. “It’s been since [last] Saturday since we played. We wanted to play against somebody besides ourselves.”

Northridge built a 53-32 halftime advantage and led by 33 points during the second half.

Weber State (15-14) cut the deficit to 16 points in the second half, but never led.

Northridge will play Eastern Washington (17-10), a 58-53 winner over Northern Arizona, for the tournament championship tonight at 6. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

The winner advances to the NCAA tournament. Eastern Washington has handed Northridge its only home losses each of the last two seasons.

Northridge’s 21 victories are the most since the program moved to Division I in 1990. The Matadors were 20-10 last season, losing to Northern Arizona in overtime, 85-81, in the Big Sky tournament final.

Northridge won a school-record 22 games in 1977-78.

The Wildcats hurt their cause with 13 first-half turnovers, including five in the first six minutes. Heinle and point guard Markus Carr each had two of the Matadors’ seven steals in the first half.

Weber State called timeout twice in the early minutes, both times after the Matadors ignited the crowd with fast-break points off turnovers. But the lead only continued to grow.

Forward Jeff Parris, a 6-foot-5 senior and Northridge’s most physical player, spent the final 15 minutes of the half on the bench after picking up two early fouls.

Parris returned early in the second half and quickly displayed his trademark style of muscling inside. His authoritative dunk gave the Matadors a 67-39 lead.

Moments later, Parris disdained the dunk on a short breakaway, settling for a layup instead that gave Northridge a 69-39 lead.

Marco McCain’s three-pointer moments later gave the Matadors a 72-39 lead.

Heinle led Northridge with 26 points and 11 rebounds. McCain had 16 points, Carl Holmes 13 and John Burrell 10.