Larry Ness' 7* Tourney Bailout (27-11 run)
Bob Thomason has had a pretty long run of success at Pacific and his team is one win away from returning to the NCAA tourney (led the Tigers to the Big Dance in 1997 and then three straight years from 2004-06). Bobby Braswell of Northridge is in his 13th year and through all sorts of adversity, is one win away from his second NCAA bid (first came in 2001). The Matadors lost leading-scorer Tresvant ((13.3) after 12 games to legal problems. Then PG Jenkins (10.2-6.0 APG) was through for the year after 22 games for undisclosed reasons. Amazingly, Northridge has gone 12-5 since the loss of Tresvant and finished the regular season on a 9-3 run. The strong finish allowed them to grab the No. 1 seed in this tourney, while Pacific tied for second with Long Beach St but lost the tie-breaker. That meant that Pacific had to start play Thursday night (beat UC-Davis) and then beat Long Beach St last night (65-60). Meanwhile, Northridge got a bye until last night, when it beat Santa Barbara, 67-60 (now 10-3 L13). Pacific is a deep team, as nine players got double digits in minutes last night. The starting guards are Troyer (11.2), Kirby (9.5) and PG Ford (3.9-3.8-2.5), with the 6-7 Brown (7.7-4.9) and the 6-9 Williams (6.7-6.5) starting up front. The 6-8 LeDuc (11.3-4.5) is the leading scorer off the bench with guards Doran (6.7) and Smith (6.4-3.1) adding depth. Northridge has seen the 6-9 Townsend (11.2-8.3) play well all season through the distractions plus has received solid play from guard Haynes (9.4), the 6-8 Galick (9.3-5.6) and swingman Daniels (8.9). The real story lately has been 6-2 senior guard Mels, who averaged 5.3 last year. He's averaging just 8.3 PPG this year but that's not NEARLY the whole story. He led the team last night with 28 points, his 10th double-digit scoring output in his last 14 games (19.7 PPG over his last three). Northridge lost both regular season meeting vs. Pacific but I believe the Matadors are this year's "team of destiny" in the Big West.
Tourney Bailout on CS-Northridge
Bob Thomason has had a pretty long run of success at Pacific and his team is one win away from returning to the NCAA tourney (led the Tigers to the Big Dance in 1997 and then three straight years from 2004-06). Bobby Braswell of Northridge is in his 13th year and through all sorts of adversity, is one win away from his second NCAA bid (first came in 2001). The Matadors lost leading-scorer Tresvant ((13.3) after 12 games to legal problems. Then PG Jenkins (10.2-6.0 APG) was through for the year after 22 games for undisclosed reasons. Amazingly, Northridge has gone 12-5 since the loss of Tresvant and finished the regular season on a 9-3 run. The strong finish allowed them to grab the No. 1 seed in this tourney, while Pacific tied for second with Long Beach St but lost the tie-breaker. That meant that Pacific had to start play Thursday night (beat UC-Davis) and then beat Long Beach St last night (65-60). Meanwhile, Northridge got a bye until last night, when it beat Santa Barbara, 67-60 (now 10-3 L13). Pacific is a deep team, as nine players got double digits in minutes last night. The starting guards are Troyer (11.2), Kirby (9.5) and PG Ford (3.9-3.8-2.5), with the 6-7 Brown (7.7-4.9) and the 6-9 Williams (6.7-6.5) starting up front. The 6-8 LeDuc (11.3-4.5) is the leading scorer off the bench with guards Doran (6.7) and Smith (6.4-3.1) adding depth. Northridge has seen the 6-9 Townsend (11.2-8.3) play well all season through the distractions plus has received solid play from guard Haynes (9.4), the 6-8 Galick (9.3-5.6) and swingman Daniels (8.9). The real story lately has been 6-2 senior guard Mels, who averaged 5.3 last year. He's averaging just 8.3 PPG this year but that's not NEARLY the whole story. He led the team last night with 28 points, his 10th double-digit scoring output in his last 14 games (19.7 PPG over his last three). Northridge lost both regular season meeting vs. Pacific but I believe the Matadors are this year's "team of destiny" in the Big West.
Tourney Bailout on CS-Northridge
