CSUN FALLS IN 2 OTS : PORTLAND ST. 93, CSUN 90.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

It was scintillating and dramatic and full of emotional rushes and last-second shots.

All of which means diddly-squat to Cal State Northridge, which is already in a precarious situation a week into the Big Sky season.

After boasting about having the most talented team in school history and making a run at the league crown, the Matadors are already two games behind Northern Arizona thanks to exciting but erratic play.

The most recent example came Thursday, after two overtimes and a pair of CSUN comebacks. But Portland State still left CSUN gym with a 93-90 double-overtime win Thursday in front of a season-high 1,067, and with it chopped away a piece of the Matadors' strut.

CSUN (9-6, 1-2 Big Sky) had its five-game home winning streak snapped.

``It doesn't matter if it's overtime or quadruple overtime, it's 1-2,'' CSUN forward Jeff Parris said. ``You have to win at home. To win the Big Sky, you have to win at home.''

The Matadors' penchant for dramatic finishes masks what is a rapidly growing trend, not to mention a concern.

For the third time in three games, CSUN played uninspired the first 10 minutes of the second half, which drastically changed the complexion of a game.

To go inside that, look no further than the evening CSUN guard Jason Crowe experienced. Most of the time he was splendid, rallying CSUN in regulation and in the first overtime.

However, in the last minute of the second overtime he was nabbed on a five-second call while setting the offense. It gave the Vikings the ball.

He had two more opportunities to atone for the meltdown, but his runner from six feet clanked off the side of the backboard with seven seconds left and Portland State leading 92-90.

And Crowe's and CSUN's night ended when he was stripped by Portland State's Reggie Ball 30 feet from the basket as he went up for a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

``If I had to do it again, I probably would have gone more inside (on the first miss),'' said Crowe who scored 15 points and had six assists. ``It's a shot I feel I can hit, but I took a bad angle.''

CSUN was led in scoring by Derrick Higgins' 18 points.

Taplar Mvogo led Portland State with 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting. He also grabbed 13 rebounds while forward Jason Hartman, a Thousand Oaks High product, added 18 points before fouling out in regulation.

``Our post guys were not good,'' CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. ``I think their big guys got big rebounds, especially (Mvogo's) tip-in in the second overtime.''

A week ago CSUN fell behind to Northern Arizona by 20 points early in the second half before forcing overtime and then blew a double-digit second-half lead against Idaho State before winning at the buzzer.

And after taking a 43-33 lead at the half against a Portland State squad that was 3-13 on the road in its Big Sky life, CSUN allowed the Vikings (9-3, 2-0) to start the second half with a 26-6 run.

Of course, the Matadors did fight back. Again and again because they at least do that.

They did it with a 15-0 run in regulation to take a 69-66 lead. Then they battled to force overtime when Brian Heinle scored on a layup with 16.5 seconds left to make it 72-72 before Higgins blocked Hasan Artharee's 6-footer at the buzzer.

And CSUN rallied again in the first overtime, overcoming a four-point deficit on a 3-pointer by Crowe and a Carl Holmes' putback with 0.9 seconds left to tie it 84-84.

``Phew, it's frustrating,'' Parris said. ``Really frustrating.''