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Pacific Manages Narrow Win Over Northridge

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Pacific continued its dominant run through the Big West Conference on Thursday night, but the Tigers had to sweat it out to defeat Cal State Northridge, 69-65, in front of 1,712 at the Matadome.

In winning their 25th consecutive game against conference competition, Pacific displayed the type of scoring balance and defense that has made the Tigers the class of the Big West. But they had to hold off an inspired second-half rally by Northridge, which missed two last-second three-point attempts.

“We knew that this was a big game because it gave us a chance to separate ourselves from the rest of the teams in the league,” said forward Christian Maraker, who had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Pacific, which holds a three-game lead in the conference.

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“It’s tough playing Northridge because they never give up and they always play hard.”

Pacific, 15-2 overall and 10-0 in the Big West, which has not lost to a conference opponent since Jan. 15, 2004, shot 68% in the first half to take control of the game early. But after an 18-4 run carried the Tigers to a 17-point lead, freshman Jonathan Heard sparked a Northridge comeback to cut Pacific’s advantage to 39-31 at halftime.

In the second half, the Matadors rode the crowd energy and Eto Onyenegecha to keep the score close as their trapping defense and aggressive play underneath the basket gave Pacific problems.

But the closest Northridge, which made 25% of its shots in the second half after shooting 52.2% in the first, could get was 55-54 with 6:53 remaining.

The Matadors (9-9, 7-3) were led by senior guard Ian Boylan’s 17 points. Heard finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Davin White had 11 points off the bench for Northridge, whose four-game home winning streak ended.

-- Lonnie White

Cal State Fullerton 92, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 69 -- Yaphett King scored a career-high 26 points in front of 1,012 at Titan Gym as the Titans stopped a three-game losing streak.

King was 10 for 14 from the field as he led five Titan starters who scored in double figures. Ralphy Holmes scored 19 points, Jermaine Harper had 13 and Jamal Brown and Bobby Brown scored 11 apiece.

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Cal State Fullerton (9-7, 4-4) went on a 20-3 run to lead, 36-23, with 5:55 remaining in the first half.

Cal Poly (3-14, 1-8) fell behind by as many as 36 in the second half and has lost eight in a row.

Long Beach State 53, Idaho 52 -- Jibril Hodges’ eight-foot floater with 8.8 seconds left supplied the winning points as the 49ers ended an eight-game losing skid in a Big West game in front of 1,372 at the Pyramid.

Hodges finished with 10 points for Long Beach State (3-17, 1-7) while junior Shawn Hawkins led the way with 16 points. Dandrick Jones led Idaho (7-12, 5-3) with 21 points.

Long Beach hurt itself throughout the game at the free-throw line, making only 53.3%. The 49ers also committed 21 turnovers and were outrebounded 37-36, but somehow managed to pull out the win.

UC Riverside 54, UC Santa Barbara 50 -- Freshman Larry Cunningham scored 16 points as the Highlanders held off a second-half charge at Riverside.

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The Highlanders led by as many as 12 in the second half, but UC Santa Barbara pushed back to tie it at 50 on Josh Davis’s three-pointer with 1:57 left.

Steve Williams scored the eventual game-winning basket for UC Riverside (7-10, 3-5) on a baseline drive with 1:32 left.

UC Santa Barbara (7-10, 4-5) was one for five on free throws in the game’s final five minutes.

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