Late Northridge surge takes down Aggie men in Big West basketball showdown
Matadors overcome 12-point deficit for a critical 65-62 win over the Aggies
In a heartbreaking finish, UC Davis saw a 12-point lead melt away down the stretch as Cal State Northridge emerged with a tense 65-62 Big West men's basketball win Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 1,572 at the University Credit Union Center.
The loss, the Aggies’ third in a row, drops them to 9-8 in league play and 15-13 overall and virtually assures they will not be among the top four seeds in the conference tournament March 12-15 in Henderson, Nevada.
Northridge won its seventh straight to advance to 12-4 in conference and 20-7 overall.
Despite the loss, Aggie coach Jim Les was upbeat about the effort his team put on the floor.
"Our guys played their tails off," Les said.
"Northridge just made one more play than we did and they shot a heck of a high percentage late in the game that put a lot of pressure on us. But I'm proud of our effort. I told the guys a lot of good things happened and they should have no regrets. They left it all on the floor."
A 3-pointer by Carl Daughtery gave UCD its biggest lead of the afternoon at 58-46 with 6:54 remaining, but the Aggies managed just four points the rest of the way as CSUN rallied for the win.
The Aggies trailed 63-62 after two free throws from Pablo Tamba at 0:23, then forced a turnover in the backcourt to have one final chance to salvage a victory.
However, TY Johnson's short floater in traffic in the lane was off the mark, forcing UCD to quickly foul.