CHARGE THIS WIN TO NORTHRIDGE PARRIS' HEADS-UP DEFENSE SPARKS CSUN'S VICTORY CSUN 79, MONTANA 67.

Byline: Chris Branam Staff Writer

Sometimes it starts with a steal and a fastbreak layup. Other times, a backboard-rattling slam dunk.

This momentum-shifting play was a charge, taken by Cal State Northridge's Jeff Parris.

OK, so it happened midway through the first half of the Matadors' 79-67 victory over visiting Montana on Saturday night; 30 minutes of basketball was played after Parris went to the ground. But at the time, CSUN had no life and was trailing by nine points.

Northridge went on a 13-2 run. Montana stole a win last year at Matador Gym in a game in which the Matadors admittedly were lethargic. The Grizzlies weren't going to do it again.

``That was real unselfish for Jeff,'' said teammate Brian Heinle. ``When we see him do things like that, it really gets us going.''

Parris ended up scoring a team-high 18 points - on 6-of-6 shooting - and had seven assists. But it was the simple act of stepping in front of a flying Grizzly that may have been his most impressive move of the night - even better than his dunk at the end of a fastbreak that gave CSUN a 70-63 lead with less than three minutes left.

``Coach (Bobby Braswell) has us taking charges in practice all the time,'' said Parris, a 6-foot-5 senior forward. ``That's what I did. I stood up and took a charge.''

CSUN, which won its ninth consecutive home game - a streak that began after that loss to Montana last February - improved to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big Sky Conference in front of a season-best 1,483. The Grizzlies dropped to 7-9, 2-3.

``We just felt together as a team,'' said Heinle, who had 15 points and tied a season-high with 11 rebounds. ``We tried to step it up a notch.''

For the second consecutive game, an unfamiliar face on the bench became a sparkplug in the second half. Point guard Markus Carr, who started the previous 29 games, sat as freshman Craig Calloway made his first career start.

But Carr, in a performance much like forward Andre Larry's on Thursday night against Montana State (Larry had 17 of his 21 points in the second half), made three 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes and had all of his 14 points in the second half.

``I was losing focus,'' said Carr, who admitted he had a bad practice Friday. ``It was (Braswell's) decision. I guess I needed the extra boost.''

Braswell said: ``I needed to get (Carr's) attention a little bit, in regards to things on the floor. It worked.''

Carr, a 6-1 sophomore from Palmdale, even had a dunk in the middle of CSUN's 12-0 run late in the game that turned a two-point game into a rout.

CSUN outscored Montana 22-9 in points off turnovers.

``We had two bad possessions in a row,'' Montana coach Don Holst said, ``and now we're down seven or eight. That was the game. We needed to keep it close down the stretch.''

The Grizzlies got a game-high 21 points from senior forward Matt Williams, the second-leading scorer in the Big Sky. Williams torched CSUN for 52 points in two games last year, but he was only 2 of 7 from the field in the second half Saturday.