Matadors Are Men of Steal in a 66-52 Victory

Cal State Northridge stole another one Thursday night.

The Matadors, who entered the game leading Division I-A in steals at 12.9 a game, produced nine in the second half of a 66-52 Big West Conference victory over host UC Irvine.

Northridge, 5-7 and 3-1 in the conference, trailed by 11 points at halftime. But the Matadors scored 18 points off 14 turnovers in the second half and limited the Anteaters (6-4, 1-2) to only 16 points.

“That’s all we work on in practice,” Northridge freshman guard Jonathan Heard said. “We just stay in the passing lanes.”

Irvine looked like the team with the better defense in the first half. The Anteaters held the Matadors to 38% shooting. Northridge missed 12 of its first 15 shots and Irvine built a 13-point lead after 12 minutes.

A 10-0 run by Northridge early in the second half cut the deficit to 40-39, and Davin White’s three-point basket tied the score with just over 13 minutes remaining.

Heard’s steal and layup extended Northridge’s lead to 52-44 about 3 1/2 minutes later and Etoagwara Onyenegecha produced the ninth steal of the half, which resulted in two free throws by Ian Boylan, to give the Matadors a 56-45 lead with 5:30 left.

“We lost purpose with what we were doing offensively, and it snowballed on us,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said.

Boylan scored 19 points to lead Northridge. Fitzgerald scored 13 points to lead Irvine.

Dan Arritt

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Pacific 69, Long Beach State 60 -- The Tigers charged to a 20-point lead in the second half before holding off the 49ers in a Big West game at Long Beach.

Pacific (9-2, 4-0) committed 13 of its 20 turnovers in the second half and saw its big lead cut to six in the final two minutes.

David Doubley led the Tigers with 15 points and reserve Jasko Korajkic had 14, but they missed seven free throws in the last three minutes.

“If we keep playing like that, we’re in for a lot of tough times ahead of us,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said.

Long Beach (2-10, 0-3) was outscored, 15-2, in the last six minutes of the first half and trailed, 38-19, at the break.

But the 49ers didn’t quit. Chris Jenkins scored seven points to spark an 18-5 run that cut the Tigers’ lead to seven.

Jibril Hodges made three free throws after being fouled to cut it to six with 1:47 remaining, but Long Beach missed four shots on its next possession and couldn’t get any closer.

Eric Stephens

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Cal State Fullerton 74, UC Riverside 71 -- Bobby Brown scored 23 points and Jamaal Brown made two free throws with 4.9 seconds to play as the Titans held off the Highlanders in a Big West game at Fullerton.

Ralphy Holmes and Jamaal Brown had 15 points apiece for Fullerton (6-4, 2-1), which has won three of its last four games. Hardy Asprilla had 12 points.

Fullerton, which led by as many as 10 points, held a 67-60 lead with 2:49 to play when Riverside (4-7, 0-3) used an 8-0 run to take a 68-67 lead with 1:10 left.

But Asprilla scored, was fouled and made the free throw to give the Titans a 70-68 lead.

Vili Morton had 20 points for Riverside, which has lost four in a row and is winless on the road.

Utah State 80, UC Santa Barbara 70 -- Jaycee Carroll scored a career-high 28 points, 24 of them coming on three-point shots, as the Aggies (10-3, 1-1) rolled to a Big West victory over the short-handed Gauchos (4-7, 2-2) at Logan, Utah.

Joe See scored 26 points for the Gauchos, who played without leading scorer Casey Cook. He fractured his right foot in a 70-50 loss Sunday at Northridge and is lost for six weeks. Santa Barbara center Cameron Goettsche did not play because of a groin injury, leaving the Gauchos with only seven players.

Associated Press