Cal State Northridge sees end to its feel-good story
Andy Newman took over a broken down program last April and not only made Cal State Northridge run again, but the Matadors quickly became one of the most flashy, durable and efficient teams in the Big West Conference.
Newman’s successful first year as head coach at Northridge came to an end on Thursday night with a 75-68 loss to third-seeded Hawaii in the quarterfinals of the Big West Conference Tournament in Henderson, Nev.
The Rainbow Warriors advanced to play secondseeded UC Davis in the late semifinal tonight.
Meanwhile, the seventhseeded Matadors (19-15) can finally sit back, admire and appreciate the alterations they brought to a program that combined for 14 wins the previous two seasons.
“That CSUN team played their hearts out, played their hearts out (Wednesday) night, played their hearts out tonight, just gave everything they could,” Newman said. “Man, so proud of their effort. Wish we would have made a couple more baskets down the stretch, but super proud of what they gave.”
After four successful seasons
at Cal State San Bernardino, Newman was named the fourth Northridge head coach in six seasons last April and persuaded four returners to give him a chance, while seven headed elsewhere.
“The guys who decided to come back and play for me, we have a special bond that they would trust me with their senior years,” Newman said. “That’s pretty big, so this (loss) was especially tough for me personally.”
Little attention was paid when Northridge led Stanford with 2½ minutes left in its season opener in November, nor when the Matadors picked themselves up after that loss and won three days later at Idaho.
All of that changed when Northridge knocked off UCLA 76-72 on Dec. 19 at Pauley Pavilion and the Matadors rode that high to a 3-0 start in conference play, capped by a 10-point win against the visiting Rainbow Warriors.
Another 4-0 run in the middle of conference play firmed up their spot in the tournament and Northridge went on to beat sixthseeded UC Santa Barbara in overtime Wednesday night for its first postseason win since 2014.
The Matadors looked in good position to keep their run alive when Dionte Bostick scored on a backdoor cut to trim the lead to 68-66 with 2:35 remaining in the game. But Hawaii scored the next four points and the Matadors never got back within a possession.
“Came out on fire with a lot of gas and made some great plays to start the game and just ran out of gas,” Newman said. “It’s tough because as a competitor, you’re just built to always be pushing and trying to get that next victory.”
De’Sean Allen-Eikens had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Northridge, which was picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Bostick added 18 points and Keonte Jones finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Matadors, who showed their fatigue in the second half by missing all nine 3-point attempts.
Justin McKoy scored 16 points to lead four scoers in double figures for Hawaii (20-13).