COLLEGE BASKETBALL: CSUN CRUISES TO EXHIBITION WIN CSUN 106, THE MASTER'S 82.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

Word is already out about the athletic Cal State Northridge men's basketball team.

Not convinced? The Matadors had a crowd of 1,201 on hand for Monday's exhibition game against The Master's College. It was a bigger crowd than all but five of CSUN's home games last year.

CSUN pushed the ball up the floor with ease and cruised to a 106-82 win over the NAIA school at the Northridge Gym. Junior college transfer Sal Vance had a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds and freshman Jonathan Heard made 7 of 10 shots and scored 22 points.

``It's my teammates,'' Heard said. ``They gave me a chance by setting screens. We were just running the floor and playing.''

That was something the Matadors weren't able to do last year. CSUN coach Bobby Braswell has been saying Heard is the best athlete he's ever coached. He wasn't kidding. The high-flying Heard also had three crowd-pleasing dunks.

The Matadors were without starters Joe Frazier and Eto Onyenegecha. Frazier has tendinitis in both knees, and Onyenegecha has tendinitis in his left knee. The two are day-to-day.

Senior Ian Boylan had 14 points, six assists and five steals. Boylan and Vance each were called for technicals, too. But there were four freshmen and that meant plenty of mistakes.

``We did some good things but defense definitely concerns me,'' Braswell said. ``At the beginning of the year, that's always what you have to work on. We'll watch film and they'll be some people that will be exposed.''

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com

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