BIG WEST TOURNAMENT: NORTHRIDGE'S SEASON ENDED BY PACIFIC.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

ANAHEIM -- It was an uphill battle Wednesday for the Cal State Northridge men's basketball team, which couldn't overcome a 14-point halftime deficit in a 71-54 loss to Pacific in the opening round of the Big West Conference tournament.

"I thought they were pretty good offensively and we weren't as good as we needed to be defensively," CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. "Like so many games down the stretch at the end, we struggled to score."

Pacific (12-18) shot 51.7 percent (15 of 29) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while CSUN (14-17) made only 8 of 25 first-half field goals.

Senior Thomas Shewmake had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Matadors.

"Going out in the first round, I didn't really want to do that. It sucks," Shewmake said. "My senior year, I didn't really want to go out like that. I'm all over the place right now. It's not real to me."

--Erik Boal

UC Irvine 53, UC Riverside 52: Mark Kelley scored with a minute to play to give the Anteaters (14-17) the win over the Highlanders (7-24) in a first-round game.

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