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Date Posted: 07:02:14 02/01/02 Fri
Author: Jon Ralston
Subject: Daily News Recap
In reply to: Jon Ralston 's message, "Record Recap" on 07:00:02 02/01/02 Fri

Friday, February 1, 2002
CSUN falls to Pacific, out of first
By Chris Cocoles
Staff Writer
STOCKTON-- First place, which seemed out of place as a Cal State Northridge perch given its pre-Big West Conference men's basketball struggles, was attained by quality road play.

Just not like this. Not by missing 19 of 26 first-half field-goal attempts which prevented throwing the smothering press into overdrive. Not by fouling on two fadeaway 3-point shots that were converted into six easy points.

It was not the way the Matadors wanted to begin the second round of conference play and a crucial three-game road trip. Pacific scored the first nine points and streaked to a 74-58 win Thursday before 2,986 at the Spanos Center.

CSUN (8-11, 7-3) saw its winning streak end at five games, along with a share of first place with UC Irvine, now 8-2 and in the conference lead after its victory at UC Riverside Thursday.

The Matadors have been resilient before. Coach Bobby Braswell made sure to remind his players about losing 73-56 at Utah State in the Big West opener on Dec. 20. Dropping to 1-8 overall, CSUN bounced back to beat Idaho two days later.

UC Santa Barbara won 57-54 at Northridge on Jan. 10. Five ensuing victories, including two on the road, thrust CSUN into first.

"This is one you learn from. We ran into a team that was pretty hungry and aggressive," said Braswell, who knew his young Matadors would experience such doldrums, many of which happened in nonconference play.

"I wish I could say we made progress. I don't think we made progress. Either we took a little small step backwards or stayed where we were. We've got to continue to get better."

Behind Demetrius Jackson's 20 first-half points, Pacific (14-6, 6-4) led 38-21 and comfortably was ahead as much as 23 in the second half.

For a far too brief two-minute stretch in the first half, the Matadors resembled the team that won at Irvine and posted five double-figure Big West wins. But the momentum of a 7-0 run that pulled it within 24-17 quickly stalled in CSUN's efforts to get back on course.

Pacific, which lost 70-59 at Northridge on Jan. 5, spurted for seven consecutive points of its own in a minute. Then Jackson did most of the work in personally outscoring the Matadors 9-2 to make it 38-19. He finished with 25.

"Whenever we go into a game, people are going to play us hard. We've got a target on our back. We're a good team," said Matadors guard Markus Carr, whose 14 points shared the team high with Curtis Slaughter. "They're going to come and bring their best effort. We have to do the same in order to survive."

The Matadors won three road games in the first half of Big West play. And arguably the toughest away games (Irvine and the Utah State-Idaho swing) are behind them. Immediately ahead are tests at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara next week.

Those have been difficult courts to win on this season, but they are opportunities for the Matadors to prove they can travel more smoothly than this.

"We're going to come into practice this week ... to make sure to be ready for the next game," forward Jermar Welch said. "Any given night you can be beat, especially if you don't come with it. And it showed on the court."

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