Matadors Leave 49ers at Bottom of Big West

It was giveaway night at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday.

Northridge handed out bobble-head dolls of Coach Bobby Braswell to fans, and the Matadors handed over sole possession of last place in the Big West Conference to Long Beach State by defeating the 49ers, 85-77, in front of 1,288.

Ian Boyland had 21 points, all but three coming in a near-perfect first half, Curtis Slaughter scored 20 and Lionel Benjamin had 18 for Northridge (8-8, 2-4 Big West).

The Matadors moved a game ahead of Long Beach (2-13, 1-5) with their second consecutive victory.

“It does feel good,” Boyland said of getting out of the cellar. “Being two-and-four doesn’t sound too good but it’s better than 0-6.”

To get there, Northridge had to withstand the dominant performance of Vance Lawhorn. The 6-foot-8 senior had 29 points and 12 rebounds, both career bests. He made nine of 10 field-goal attempts.

Lawhorn’s 21 second-half points were punctuated by three consecutive dunks that helped the 49ers cut a 14-point deficit to 75-72 with 4:21 to play.

Northridge responded by holding Long Beach without a field goal for more than four minutes and making eight of its final 10 free throws to pull away.

“Their big guys really caused some problems for us,” Braswell said. “But we were able to get a couple of stops near the end.”

Boyland, a sophomore forward, scored 18 points in the last 6:33 of the first half to help Northridge take a 41-31 lead at intermission.

He ended a 20-20 tie by accounting for all the points of a 10-0 run, capping it with a three-point basket from several feet behind the arc.

Boyland made seven of eight shots, including all three of his three-point attempts, in the first half.