Eutropio Rey is at 82% in a key game against
UC-Santa Barbara and will dress as the 6th man. What follows is one of the most thrilling games of my coaching career. When the whistle blows?
Code:
Cal State Northridge (13-8, 6-4):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Major Ramirez C 34 8-13 4-4 2 3 1 0 20
B. Klingensmith PF 28 5-11 0-2 4 6 0 3 10
Jeremiah Hardie SF 25 7-8 4-4 2 3 2 4 22
Robert Serra SG 33 6-15 5-7 2 5 7 0 19
Ned Fraser PG 24 1-9 0-0 2 6 5 0 3
Eutropio Rey PG 19 5-11 2-2 1 3 1 5 15
Rene Abbott SF 11 1-4 0-0 1 2 0 1 2
Bradford Taylor PG 8 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Conrad Magee C 16 1-1 0-0 1 4 1 0 2
Jeffery Aponte PF 2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 0 1
Turnovers: 6 (M.Ramirez 1, J.Hardie 2, N.Fraser 1,
E.Rey 1, B.Taylor 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Klingensmith 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Hardie 1, R.Serra 1, N.Fraser 1, E.Rey 1,
C.Magee 1)
3P FGs: 10-25 (J.Hardie 4-4, R.Serra 2-7, N.Fraser 1-5,
E.Rey 3-5, R.Abbott 0-3, B.Taylor 0-1)
UC Santa Barbara (12-9, 9-1):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
William Erskine C 24 3-6 2-2 0 5 3 1 8
Roger Hasty PF 27 3-4 4-5 3 7 1 1 10
Tony Brown SF 25 7-11 0-1 0 0 4 3 19
Lincoln Romans SG 33 9-14 0-0 3 5 2 3 25
Richard Fanelli PG 30 5-9 5-6 0 7 5 3 16
Jonathan Bryson C 26 1-2 0-0 1 9 0 2 2
Johnie Pak PF 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Spencer Lower SG 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Bruno Dominguez SF 18 4-7 0-0 0 0 2 1 9
Leo Simmons SF 6 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 1 1
Charles Forehand SF 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 18 (W.Erskine 2, R.Hasty 2, T.Brown 4,
L.Romans 3, R.Fanelli 3, B.Dominguez 4)
Blocked Shots: 5 (R.Hasty 2, L.Romans 1, J.Bryson 2)
Steals: 1 (J.Bryson 1)
3P FGs: 14-27 (T.Brown 5-9, L.Romans 7-11, R.Fanelli
1-4, J.Pak 0-1, S.Lower 0-1, B.Dominguez 1-1)
Player of Game: SF Jeremiah Hardie (CSNTH)
UC-Santa Barbara's first conference loss of the year as everyone was utterly inspired by the
Trop King's return. What an absolutely beautiful, important win.
Our RPI skyrockets to 127 following that victory and
Eutropio Rey resumes his throne. He scores 24 points with a steal in a 73-59 win over
UC-Irvine, but it's
Major Ramirez's 19 points, steal, and 3 blocks that gets PotG.
Robert Serra has 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals. We look like a totally different team now.
Until
UC-Riverside crushes us by almost 30. Just one of those games where literally nothing was going in the basket for us. The Highlanders have pretty much sewn up the title with that one, I think.
CSU-Fullerton matches up very well against us, and it takes every one of
Robert Serra's 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, block, and 5 steals to emerge 78-75 winners.
The Trop King scores 18 with 5 rebounds as we survive an awful shooting night from
Major Ramirez, who does still finish with 12 rebounds.
Utter HORESHIT 1 POINT LOSS VS UC-DAVIS! Fucking bullshit buzzer-beater 3 pointers!!!!
And then
we don't score for the final 3 minutes against Cal Poly, the Mustangs getting their revenge finally.
Everyone's pissed and we beat
Pacific's ass 91-54 with
Major Ramirez (PotG, 9 rebounds, a steal) and
Eutropio Rey (6 assists) each scoring 20,
Jeremiah Hardie with 13/5/2 steals, and
Ned Fraser 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals off the bench. That clinches .500 in Big West for the third straight season.
Weird game vs
Hawaii. We escape with the 68-67 win when
Rene Abbott tips in
Eutropio Rey's miss and there isn't enough time for the Rainbow Warriors to set up a desperation heave that works. Hawaii left 12 points at the charity stripe and we were fortunate to win. Abbott scored 11 off the bench, but it's
Major Ramirez's 14 points, 9 rebounds, and steal that is Player of the Game, even though it should have gone to Hawaii's 20 point scorer.
Eutropio Rey scores 12 as
we clinch our third straight season of a winning Big West record and long ago nailed our third straight overall winning season.
A second consecutive third place finish is locked in, so there's really nothing to play for against
Cesar Wisdom. We blow out
The Beach anyway, 89-58.
Every starter but Brian Klingensmith scores at least 12 points, with
Robert Serra the best player on the court due to his 28 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal.
Major Ramirez chimes in with 17 points and a steal.
Big West Tournament
As the 3 seed, we get the absolutely worst possible matchup for us in
Hawaii as the 6 seed. They should have swept us in the season series and I'm not feeling good about this one AT ALL. It's a back and forth game and a really, really strange box score and
Player of the Game decision. Here's the tape:
Code:
Cal State Northridge 96, Hawaii 89
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawaii (11-19, 7-11):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
David Arvizu C 18 4-7 1-2 0 6 4 5 11
Kip Alsup PF 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 5 0
Del Holmes PF 35 10-18 7-10 0 5 3 3 28
Arlie Nichols SG 24 3-8 1-2 3 8 3 4 8
Kelvin Moll PG 29 4-8 1-1 0 1 1 1 10
Dwight Davis SF 21 5-8 0-1 2 5 6 4 11
Milford Sandoval PG 11 1-4 0-0 0 0 0 1 2
Kevin Zook PF 17 3-5 0-1 2 9 0 1 6
Reuben Hayes SG 12 2-4 0-0 0 0 2 0 5
Jeremy Sebastian C 17 0-2 2-2 0 2 0 4 2
Brian Montana SF 9 2-4 2-2 2 5 1 2 6
Gaétan Clapestre SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Turnovers: 16 (D.Holmes 4, A.Nichols 3, K.Moll 1,
D.Davis 1, M.Sandoval 2, K.Zook 2, J.Sebastian 1,
B.Montana 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (D.Holmes 1, R.Hayes 2)
Steals: 4 (D.Arvizu 1, K.Alsup 1, D.Holmes 1, D.Davis 1)
3P FGs: 7-23 (D.Arvizu 2-5, D.Holmes 1-2, A.Nichols
1-6, K.Moll 1-1, D.Davis 1-3, M.Sandoval 0-1, R.Hayes
1-3, B.Montana 0-2)
Cal State Northridge (19-11, 11-7):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Major Ramirez C 31 7-17 8-14 4 6 1 4 22
B. Klingensmith PF 26 4-8 1-3 1 4 2 1 9
Jeremiah Hardie SF 26 6-13 2-6 5 7 2 3 16
Robert Serra SG 33 5-9 8-8 1 7 2 0 19
Eutropio Rey PG 31 4-12 6-8 1 7 11 2 15
Ned Fraser PG 20 2-6 0-0 2 7 3 1 4
Rene Abbott SF 9 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 3 0
Conrad Magee C 18 4-5 0-0 2 7 1 3 8
Jeffery Aponte PF 5 1-1 1-1 0 1 0 2 3
Turnovers: 11 (M.Ramirez 2, J.Hardie 2, R.Serra 3,
E.Rey 2, C.Magee 1, J.Aponte 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (M.Ramirez 2, E.Rey 1, N.Fraser 1,
C.Magee 2)
Steals: 7 (M.Ramirez 2, B.Klingensmith 1, R.Serra 1,
E.Rey 2, R.Abbott 1)
3P FGs: 4-14 (J.Hardie 2-5, R.Serra 1-4, E.Rey 1-2,
N.Fraser 0-3)
Player of Game: PG Eutropio Rey (CSNTH)
That's a really flattering score for us. We could have just as easily lost this one, but we pounded out the win.
Everything goes chalk, though
Cal Poly threw a scare into
UC-Davis in the 4-5 matchup, only losing by 2. So we draw
UC-Santa Barbara and the
Gauchos are going to demand satisfaction. For our part, a win gets us our first 20 win campaign of my coaching career.
You know that sinking feeling when your team pisses away an 18 point second half lead? I do, and I watched and nearly broke a clipboard as I watched the Gauchos march right back. This is not what I taught them! 27 seconds left on the clock and it's tied...
God bless
Major Ramirez. The team mobs him after he sinks both free throws to make it a 75-71 final. No question he was Player of the Game - 20 points, 13 rebounds, and that oh so vital steal.
Eutropio Rey scores 15 points with 11 assists, 7 rebounds, and a steal of his own,
making him the first player in Matadors history to have back-to-back double-doubles with assists, and
Ned Fraser is a perfect 4/4 for 10 bench points.
UC-Davis nearly does us the favor of upsetting
UC-Riverside, but that dream scenario doesn't happen, as the Aggies fall 80-82.
Conrad Magee is DTD, so he moves down the depth chart and my assistant draws up a balls to the wall, 10 pace special scheme to use against the Highlanders.
We don't have much chance against UC-R, but damned if we won't give it everything.
Down by 3 at the half.. and then in the second 20 minutes, we suddenly can't miss a single shot. It's the most beautiful display of Matadors basketball I've ever seen in my entire life and I'm just awestruck. Shot after shot after shot drops and we force them to go deep into their bench as we rack up the fouls against them. I'm crying tears of joy when I look at the final box score:
Code:
Cal State Northridge 109, UC Riverside 86
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cal State Northridge (21-11, 11-7):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Major Ramirez C 31 11-15 4-6 4 6 2 2 26
B. Klingensmith PF 25 1-4 6-8 0 5 0 1 8
Jeremiah Hardie SF 22 5-7 1-5 0 2 1 5 13
Robert Serra SG 27 4-7 6-7 1 3 5 3 16
Eutropio Rey PG 29 8-14 6-6 3 9 6 3 22
Ned Fraser PG 25 4-6 5-8 0 5 5 2 14
Rene Abbott SF 12 2-5 0-0 2 3 0 0 5
Richard McCowan SG 3 0-0 2-4 0 1 0 0 2
Bradford Taylor PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Jeffery Aponte PF 10 1-1 1-1 0 2 0 3 3
Levi Ullrich C 10 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Conrad Magee C 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 12 (B.Klingensmith 2, R.Serra 1, E.Rey 2,
N.Fraser 2, R.Abbott 2, B.Taylor 1, J.Aponte 1,
L.Ullrich 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (M.Ramirez 1, R.Abbott 1)
Steals: 3 (M.Ramirez 1, B.Klingensmith 1, N.Fraser 1)
3P FGs: 6-16 (J.Hardie 2-3, R.Serra 2-3, E.Rey 0-4,
N.Fraser 1-3, R.Abbott 1-3)
UC Riverside (27-5, 17-1):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Rex Christensen C 12 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 4 0
Delmar Jones PF 7 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 4 2
Lucius Drury SF 22 8-15 2-2 1 4 3 4 26
Barton Caine SG 25 3-5 1-2 2 4 5 5 8
David Abel PG 23 5-9 3-4 2 4 1 2 14
D. Menchaca PG 14 6-10 1-1 2 3 0 4 15
Kevin Connell SG 19 1-3 2-2 1 2 1 3 4
Lance Vail C 25 3-8 1-2 2 4 1 4 7
Lincoln Deering PF 23 0-5 0-2 2 8 0 3 0
Gerald Gooch SF 12 0-3 0-0 1 4 1 3 0
Wallace Helfrich PF 4 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 0 2
Tony Stull C 9 2-4 0-2 0 2 0 0 4
John Crafton PG 4 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 4
Turnovers: 19 (R.Christensen 3, D.Jones 2, L.Drury 1,
B.Caine 2, D.Abel 1, D.Menchaca 3, L.Vail 4, L.Deering
2, G.Gooch 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (D.Jones 1, L.Drury 1, L.Vail 1,
L.Deering 1, J.Crafton 1)
Steals: 7 (B.Caine 4, D.Menchaca 1, L.Vail 1, L.Deering
1)
3P FGs: 12-23 (L.Drury 8-13, B.Caine 1-1, D.Abel 1-2,
D.Menchaca 2-4, K.Connell 0-1, G.Gooch 0-1, J.Crafton
0-1)
Player of Game: C Major Ramirez (CSNTH)
CSU-Northridge. Big West Conference Tournament Champions. Again. For the second straight season, the Matadors are going dancing. Every sense that we were a title contender, that this year's team was even better than last season's comparatively storied squad, has been vindicated. And we did it overcoming a major injury to
Eutropio "Trop King" Rey, my favorite player (even though
Major Ramirez is still the best player, even over
Thomas "Block Gawd" Hadden.