Northridge Beats Weber State, 89-78

Cal State Northridge reversed a trend of poor shooting and posted only its second win at one of the Big Sky Conference’s most difficult arenas with an 89-78 victory over Weber State before 3,973 Thursday night in Ogden, Utah.

Center Brian Heinle scored 28 points and guard John Burrell scored a season-high 28 off the bench for the Matadors--2-11 against the Wildcats (5-6) at the Dee Events Center.

Northridge (8-6) had lost three of its last four games entering the Big Sky opener.

“This is the way to jump into conference, beating Weber State at their place,” Burrell said. “We’re on a mission to get to the [NCAA] tournament. We think we’re better than anyone in the league, but we have to prove it.”

Weber State (5-6), Big Sky champion in 1999, is 444-88 (83.5%) at home in 39 seasons, including a 113-92 victory over Northridge last season in which the Wildcats scored a school-record 76 second-half points.

Weber State guard Jermaine Boyette, who scored 36 points last week against Brigham Young, was held to 12--nine below his average--including only three in the second half.