CSUN LOSES GAME, BUT WINS RESPECT.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Somebody asked Desmon Farmer, a USC freshman from Flint, Mich., if he had ever heard of Cal State Northridge before Tuesday, when he helped the Trojans beat the Matadors 99-90.

No, he replied, dripping equal parts sincerity and sweat. ``They didn't recruit me.''

A few more performances like the one the Matadors produced in front of a Sports Arena crowd of 4,019 and players the caliber of Farmer will be pursuing CSUN with the same intensity the Matadors go after every rebound and loose ball.

CSUN led by six points at halftime and you could feel the air get even staler inside the musty Sports Arena. The fans stayed, but the oxygen started to leave the building with under eight minutes remaining when the Matadors took a 79-75 lead on a 3-pointer by Brian Heinle.

Try as they might, the Matadors couldn't hold onto it. They succumbed down the stretch to a deeper USC team that got 29 points from David Bluthenthal and 21 points (13 in the second half) from Farmer.

Say this for the Matadors: They made the Trojans beat them, no small victory for a program that had suffered double-digit losses to USC in two previous meetings.

If this is not your cliched Matadors team, then neither is this your stereotypical USC squad. The Trojans basketball team continued its steady climb up the rankings this week, to No. 12. Some members of its party clearly are having a hard time adapting to the thinner air.

The USC band broke into the theme from ``Rocky'' before the start of the second half, which was perfectly apropos in the days when men's basketball might as well have been known as the Underdogs of Southern California.

You know, back in March.

Nine months later, the underdog ditty seems highly inappropriate, like playing ``Hail to the Chief'' when Al Gore walks into a room.

The Matadors are the commuter-school team that couldn't stop traffic, despite a 20-win campaign in 1999-2000, until they defeated a discombobulated UCLA team on its home court two weeks ago.

Playing in the shadows of UCLA and Pepperdine and, yes, USC, the Matadors always have been bullish on the underdog market. Indeed, they've practically cornered it.

CSUN's stock started to rise in the spring when it came within an overtime period of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Some time between their Big Sky Tournament loss to Northern Arizona and their season opener last month against Howard, the Matadors got this daft idea they could play with anybody in the country.

The thing is, no one's laughing at them today, not after Markus Carr outplayed Trojans point guard Brandon Granville, the nation's leading returning assists leader, and Heinle didn't blink or back down one inch against Wooden Award candidate Brian Scalabrine.

The Matadors might have lost their chance to lord over L.A. in the final few frantic minutes Tuesday (they made one basket in the last four minutes). But they no longer can be seen as the serfs of the local college basketball scene, except, perhaps, by people whose upturned noses are obstructing their vision.

Carr, a junior, directed the Matadors' offense as though it was a conductor's baton he was holding instead of a basketball. He had a game as smooth as the honey he dribbles over bananas for his pregame snack, nibbling away at the Trojans for 16 points and 10 assists in 38 minutes.

Granville rebounded from a four-turnover first half to finish with 15 points and six assists. USC coach Henry Bibby said Granville can be counted on to contribute the key play in any given game and so it was he sank a 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 20 seconds remaining to give the Trojans a bit of breathing room at 89-84 and make the Matadors' hearts feel as heavy as their legs.

Scalabrine managed 19 points and 10 rebounds despite playing the first half like someone weighed down by his preseason press, a la USC quarterback Carson Palmer. He had two turnovers before he made a basket but could be counted on down the stretch, accounting for seven of the Trojans' final 10 points.

Afterward, Scalabrine gave the Matadors their due. How could he not after the way they fought?

``They come to play,'' he said. ``It's no master theory why they're good. They play harder than most people. They played harder than us tonight.''

That's no small feat. To be sure, Tuesday's loss pained the Matadors. But once the initial sting subsides, the respect the much-maligned Matadors program reaped from their effort will start to feel almost as good as a win.