Time Is on Northridge’s Side in Upset of Irvine

Bobby Braswell preached it again and again, even to those with their hands over their ears. From the beginning of the season, he repeatedly said his team needed one thing and one thing only: Time.

It seemed like Cal State Northridge needed more than that after a horrific start to the season, a 1-7 beginning that included a 34-point loss to Howard.

But the Matadors’ time may have arrived, evidenced by a 73-72 overtime victory at UC Irvine in a Big West Conference game Saturday before 3,350 at the Bren Center.

Markus Carr scored a career-high 31 points and the Matadors (6-10, 5-2 Big West) ended Irvine’s 19-game home winning streak despite trailing by 20 midway through the first half.

“Hopefully this will be a defining moment for this basketball team,” said Braswell, who guided a senior-laden Matador team to their first NCAA tournament appearance last season. “I don’t know if anybody believed me, but I knew we were going to struggle [early this season]. We had to find the positives and keep coaching.”

Carr missed a left-handed floater with one second left that could have won the game in regulation, but he atoned by scoring five of the Matadors’ 11 points in overtime. Lionel Benjamin scored from down low with 25.8 seconds left in overtime to give the Matadors the lead for good.

Stanislav Zuzak missed an off-balance shot from the free-throw line as time ran out for Irvine.

Zuzak and the Anteaters (13-5, 6-1) were unstoppable early, taking a 29-9 lead with 8:43 left in the first half. Zuzak contributed nine points during the run.

“I don’t think this was an upset,” Carr said. “I think we came in playing our game.”

Zuzak had 17 points, Adam Parada had 19 and Jerry Green had 16 for Irvine. The Anteaters made 21 of 32 free throws (65.6%) and missed four in the final two minutes. “If we make our free throws, we win the game,” Coach Pat Douglass said.

Mike Bresnahan

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Long Beach State 78, Pacific 74--Travis Reed’s three-point play with 20 seconds left gave the struggling 49ers a Big West Conference victory before 1,593 at the Pyramid.

Reed notched his sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He made seven of 11 shots, the last being one that Long Beach (6-12, 2-5) needed.

With the score tied at 74, Tony Darden missed a three-point shot. Reed grabbed the ball in traffic and banked in the follow shot, drawing a foul on Pacific’s Mike Preston. A 48.7% free-throw shooter, Reed swished the foul shot for a three-point lead.

“The best situation was at the end with Michael Darrett getting the rebound,” he said. “We talked about how everybody was going to try to rebound and stick their nose in there.”

Darrett got the loose ball after Demetrius Jackson missed a game-tying three-point try with four seconds left. The senior guard added a free throw, giving the 49ers their third victory in the last 13 games.

Long Beach held Pacific (11-6, 3-4) to only two free throws by Jackson in the final 3:59. Ron Johnson forced Jackson into a tough shot on the final attempt, while Reed also had a key block and Rudy Williams added a steal.

Eric Stephens

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Idaho 60, UC Riverside 58--Justin Logan hit a 17-foot jumper as time expired to give Idaho a Big West victory at UC Riverside.

Idaho (6-11, 3-5 Big West) led virtually the entire game and was up by as many as nine points late in the second half. But UC Riverside (6-9, 3-3) gradually cut into the deficit, using an 8-1 run to make it 50-48 with 4:23 to play.

Associated Press

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Pepperdine 109, Portland 88--It took an upset victory over Gonzaga for Pepperdine to wrestle control of first place in the West Coast Conference on Friday, but it took a scare for the Waves to finally put away the conference’s worst team on Saturday.

The Waves erased an inconsistent performance with a dazzling run in the final eight minutes to secure the victory over Portland before 1,683 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Pepperdine (11-6, 4-0) extended its winning streak to six games, but had to survive a dogged Portland (4-14, 0-4) attack that cut the lead to 75-72 with 8:20 to play. Five different players scored in a 19-5 run that ended with Cedric Suitt’s thunderous slam dunk with 3:52 to play in the game, giving the Waves a 94-77 lead.

Seven Waves finished with double-figure scoring totals, led by Jimmy Miggins, who had 17, and Glen McGowan and Craig Lewis, who each had 15.

John Klima

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Gonzaga 94, Loyola Marymount 60--In an amazing first half, Gonzaga guard Dan Dickau did what few, if any, basketball players have done against Loyola Marymount--he single-handedly outscored the Lions.

That proved the beginning of the end for Loyola (9-9, 2-2), which fell victim to Dickau’s long-range shooting and 34 first-half points--his total for the game--in a West Coast Conference defeat before 3,342 at Gersten Pavilion.

Dickau, a senior whose presence in Los Angeles this weekend attracted such NBA luminaries as Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause, tied his own school record by making nine three-point baskets in staking 13th-ranked Gonzaga (16-3, 3-1) to a 58-32 halftime lead.

Rob Fernas