`SELFISH' CSUN FALLS AT FULLERTON MATADORS SEEDED FOURTH FOR TOURNEY CSF 72, CSUN 70.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

FULLERTON - Cal State Fullerton's Jamaal Brown cut to the basket and made an uncontested tip-in for the winner at the buzzer against Cal State Northridge.

CSUN coach Bobby Braswell couldn't have been more relieved.

Braswell was horrified by the way the Matadors played in their regular- season finale. The failure to box out in the waning seconds was a snapshot of CSUN's poor execution Saturday night, which led to a 72-70 to Fullerton at Titan Gym.

``We got exactly what we deserved,'' Braswell said. ``We didn't deserve to win it.

``I'm very disappointed in our senior leadership. Guys aren't listening. The worst thing that could've happened to us was to win that game. We would've went to (the Big West) Tournament with this false sense that we can play crappy for 30 minutes and just turn it on for 10 minutes and still win. It's not going to happen. My fear is this team is idolizing last year's tournament run.''

The Matadors last season won three games in three days before losing to Pacific by two points in the Big West Tournament final. This year, CSUN (17-12, 12-6) tied Fullerton (18-9, 12-6) for third in the conference, but the Titans claimed the No. 3 seed because they they swept the Matadors.

CSUN is seeded fourth and will play Thursday after the first-round winners are re-seeded. If the Matadors win their quarterfinal game, they would play No. 18 Pacific, which went 18-0 in conference play, if Fullerton also wins its quarterfinal. If the Titans lose, CSUN would play second-seeded Utah State in the semifinals.

The Matadors have bigger concerns.

``We played like a bunch of selfish individuals,'' Braswell said. ``I told them I never like losing, but if losing teaches us a lesson, I'm all for it.''

CSUN was awful from the start and trailed 13-2 and by as many as 13 points in the first half. The Matadors rallied in the final minutes, tying the score at 70 on a Davin White 3-pointer with 26 seconds left. They never led.

The Matadors were outrebounded 37-32, allowing 11 offensive rebounds. CSUN, which averages 11.2 steals per game, had none in the first half and finished with five. The Matadors committed 17 turnovers, too.

The final possession was ugly, from CSUN's standpoint. Brown, who scored 19 points, tipped in a missed Ralphy Holmes jumper, banking his shot in off the glass. Boylan claimed responsibility for failure to box out because he figured Holmes - who had a triple-double, with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists - might drive to the basket.

Boylan, CSUN's leading scorer, was quiet in the first half, scoring two points on only three shots, and he was benched for a while in favor of Terrell Jones. Boylan played nearly the entire second half and finished 13 points. White added 19.

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com