College BASKETBALL : Some Losses Teach CSUN How to Win, 74-53

It has taken a few tough losses for the Cal State Northridge basketball team to discover how easy winning can be.

Coach Pete Cassidy’s Matadors, still upset by last Saturday night’s overtime loss to Cal State Hayward, made sure visiting Drury College of Missouri never got into the game Wednesday night enroute to a convincing 74-53 non-conference victory.

“It took a couple of losses to learn how to make our offense work,” noted Cal State junior guard Rafael Meza, whose 10 first-half points helped the hosts to a 35-26 advantage. “We’re a lot more patient now. We have to work for the right shot at the right time.”

For the Matadors, 7-6 overall and 5-1 at home, just about every shot was the right shot in the first half. Meza, who connected on his first four shots from the field, combined with senior back courtmate Mike Almeido to hit 9 of 11 from the floor as the Matadors shot a sizzling 62.5% in the half.

“(Good shooting) does make your offense look awfully good,” said a satisfied Cassidy, who’s squad hosts Texas A I University Saturday night a 7:30. “Actually, it scared me. They were all going net and you are not not going to win games making them from 19-20 feet.”

“But they were patient enough to get good shots,” added Cassidy, who picked up a game-high 22 points from Almeido and 17 more from Mike Lopez in a reserve role. “And when they have good shots, I am surprised they miss. Our strength is that our guards can shoot.

While Cal State Northridge was utilizing its bread and butter, Drury was finding anything but a feast on the first stop of its three-game California road trip. Panther senior guard Tom Deffebaugh, averaging 16.1 points per game, was held to just a pair of second-half foul shots. Kelvin Parham, making his first shot of the season for Drury, kept his team close with 14 first-half points but was held scoreless in the second half.

Cal State Northridge blew open the game during a 15-minute span of the first and second halves. Leading 20-16 at the 8:57 mark of the first half, the Matadors reeled of a 15-10 spurt to end the initial 20 minutes and then used a 12-4 outburst in the first six minutes of the second half to grab a commanding 47-30 advantage.

Drury, 6-4, which plays in the Tom Byron Tournament this weekend at Westmont College, picked up 14 points from Mark Sparks and a dozen from Ted Young.

Larry White tossed in 10 points and added seven assists for the winners while teammate Dale Brandsberg pulled down 11 rebounds. Senior Wayne Fluker, making his first start of the season, had six rebounds to go with his four points.