Matadors ambush ‘Eaters

Barry Faulkner

Cal State Northridge men’s basketball coach Bobby Braswell politely

declined to reveal the code name he and his staff have for the

devastating one-three-one half-court trap that helped trigger a

dramatic second-half rally in a 66-52 Big West Conference road win at

UC Irvine Thursday night.

But the Anteaters, who were outscored, 41-16, in the final 20

minutes to watch a once-13-point, first-half lead disappear like so

many ill-fated passes into the maze of Matador defenders, might want

to suggest “Ambush.”

UCI (6-4, 1-2 in conference) matched a 4-0 Northridge run to open

the second half to go ahead, 40-29, with 16:49 left in the game.

But Northridge (5-7, 3-1), which won its first road game in six

tries this season and ended a six-game road losing streak dating back

to last year, scored 33 of the game’s next 39 points to leave the

hosts beaten and, frankly, somewhat bewildered.

“We have a lot of new guys,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “We lost

purpose of what we were doing offensively and it kind of snowballed

on us.

“I thought we had the game in hand the first half, but [the

Matadors] are very athletic. They got their confidence going in the

second half and they went on a roll. And, obviously, we didn’t take

care of the basketball.”

UCI, which lost for the first time in four home games this season

and has now dropped two straight after a five-game winning streak,

committed 14 of its 22 turnovers after intermission. The Anteaters

made just 7 of 20 second-half field-goal attempts (35%), including 0

of 6 three-pointers.

“Give Northridge credit, [its half-court trap] was very

effective,” Douglass said. “But we need to learn to bear down and be

patient. When things don’t go well for us, we try to go too quick and

we get a little out of character.”

Braswell, whose team came in leading 327 NCAA Division I schools

in steals per game (12.9) and had forced 23.4 turnovers per contest

from its first 11 foes, said he simply challenged his players at

halftime.

“We used the one-three-one a little in the first half, but it

wasn’t about what defense we were running,” Braswell said. “It came

down to effort. [The Anteaters] were getting every loose ball and

they had a 22-10 rebounding advantage [before halftime]. The last

couple games, we’ve been holding teams to 16 and 14 points a half,

and we gave up 36 points in the first half [Thursday]. You never know

how players are going to respond, but we got a great, great effort in

the second half. We try to average 30 deflections and we had 45

tonight.”

UCI freshman forward Darren Fells helped the ‘Eaters control the

first 20 minutes, collecting 10 of his career-high 13 rebounds before

the break. He finished with 11 points.

Junior point guard Aaron Fitzgerald attacked the Matador defense

in the first half, hitting 4 of 7 field-goal tries on his way to 12

points and distributing four first-half assists.

But Fitzgerald and senior center Greg Ethington each committed

five second-half turnovers and junior sharpshooter Ross Schraeder,

who had averaged five three-pointers in his previous four games, was

0 for 4 from beyond the arc. Schraeder was 0 for 5 from the field and

finished with a season-low two points.

Fitzgerald finished with 13 points, six assists and nine

turnovers, while Ethington had 10 points, four rebounds and six

turnovers.

Northridge scored 10 straight points to close to within 40-37,

then answered a Shamar Armstrong layup with back-to-back

three-pointers from senior guard Davin White, the latter, with 10:47

left, producing the first Matador lead since 3-2.

After an Adam Metelski layup for UCI, Northridge reeled off a 13-1

spurt to take the air out of most of the crowd of 1,486.

Senior Ian Boylan led the visitors with 19 points and also chipped

in three of Northridge’s 12 steals.

Jonathan Heard added 16 points, while White, who began the game 1

of 8 from the field, finished with 15 points.

Northridge had just four of its 11 turnovers after intermission

and shot 48.1% from the field in the final 20 mintes to finish nearly

44% for the game (21 of 48).

UCI will try to rebound Saturday at home against

conference-leading University of the Pacific (9-2, 4-0).

Big West Conference

Cal State Northridge 66, UC Irvine 52

Cal State Northridge -- Onyenegecha 4, Boylan 19, Shewmake 7,

Heard 16, Altheimer 3, White 15, Waggener 2.

3-pt. goals -- White 2, Altheimer 1, Shewmake 1, Boylan 1.

UC Irvine -- Fells 11, Campbell 0, Ethington 10, Schraeder 2, Fitzgerald 13, Gloger 6, Metelski 6, Armstrong 4.

3-pt. goals -- Fitzgerald 1.

Fouled out -- Schraeder.

Technicals -- None.

Halftime -- UCI, 36-25.