Northridge Overpowers Chapman

ORANGE —  The Chapman College men’s basketball team returned home Saturday night after eight consecutive road games.

But Cal State Northridge, led by Derrick Gathers’ 19 points, ruined the Panthers’ homecoming, easily defeating Chapman, 77-58, in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game in Hutton Center.

Northridge (9-8 overall, 4-0 in conference) opened conference play last week with victories at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal State Bakersfield, two of the conference’s stronger teams. So facing Chapman (9-8, 1-3) wouldn’t seem too daunting.

But during the first half, the Panthers put up a strong challenge, as guard Andre Hill made three of five shots and forward Roger Middleton made five of six free throws. Hill’s three-point shot with about seven minutes remaining in the half tied the game, 23-23.

But then Northridge outscored Chapman 18-10 to take a 41-33 halftime lead.

Early in the second half, Northridge took control, outscoring Chapman 16-4 and taking a 57-37 lead.

Northridge did a good job of keeping the ball away from Middleton.

The CCAA’s leading scorer took only one shot the entire game.

Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said a major part of his game plan was to deny Middleton the ball.

“He’s leading the conference in scoring, rebounds and field goal percentage,” Cassidy said. “If you weren’t conscious of him you’d be a corpse.”

Frantz Reyes had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Chapman, which is playing without starting guards Chris Martin and Von Shuler, who are academically ineligible until at least next week.

“Those two guys have too many minutes of play for anyone not to realize how important they were,” Chapman Coach Bob Boyd said.