CSUN NOTEBOOK: CSUN HOPES CONFIDENCE DOESN'T WANE AGAINST SAC STATE.

Byline: Chris Branam Staff Writer

It was a moment of self-doubt, when the fear of ``Oh no, this can't be happening again!'' crept into the collective mind of the Cal State Northridge men's basketball team.

This time, the Matadors fought back. This time, they didn't fold at home.

Northridge regained some of its early-season confidence in Wednesday's 76-62 whipping of Weber State, and nowhere was that more evident than in the first two minutes of the second half.

The Wildcats' Harold Arceneaux scored the game's first five points coming out of halftime, cutting an 18-point CSUN lead to just 13, 41-28, with a little less than 19 minutes left in the game.

WSU had plenty of time to come back, just like Eastern Washington did the week before in coming from 12 down in its 70-68 win over the Matadors.

Then CSUN's Markus Carr made two consecutive layups, the second a pretty reverse that eluded Arceneaux, and CSUN's lead was back to 17 - 45-28. Thirty seconds later, Jeff Parris fought for an offensive rebound, got a basket inside and was fouled by Arceneaux.

Whatever momentum Weber State had was gone for the night; WSU scored six points in the next five minutes.

``Our guys stepped up and made a couple of plays and got our defense locked back in again,'' CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. ``That's what made the difference.''

CSUN carries a two-game winning streak into tonight's regular-season finale against Sacramento State at Matador Gym. The Matadors (17-9, 9-6) are 26-7 all-time against the Hornets (9-17, 3-12) and have won the past seven games in the series.

Northridge was rejuvenated against Weber State, frustrating the Wildcats into 34.6 percent shooting and handing them their worst loss in the Big Sky this season.

--The difference: WSU came into the game with a 113-92 win over Northridge on Jan. 29 and the conference's top offense (78.0 points per game). Right behind the Wildcats, though, was CSUN (77.7), but defense was the difference.

In its first meeting against Weber State, Northridge gave up 76 points in the second half.

``We tried to play the hardest we could on defense, and that's what we did for most of the game,'' CSUN center Brian Heinle said.

Braswell agreed.

``If we don't play hard, we can be a pretty bad basketball team,'' he said. ``Our goal tonight was to play 40 minutes the way we did the last eight minutes of the Portland State game. That's just hard, all-out, nothing to lose, not holding anything back, wanting to be absolutely spent, tired, when you're done.

``All 12 or 13 guys believed that (Wednesday).''

CSUN vs. SACRAMENTO STATE

Tipoff: 7:05 p.m., Matador Gym.

TV/Radio: None.

CSUN (17-9, 9-6) update: The Matadors are on a two-game winning streak and they have a chance to win 10 games in the Big Sky, the most since they joined the conference four years ago. They can also tie the school record for wins in a season at home (12); CSUN has lost only once in 12 games at Matador Gym this year. Northridge hasn't lost to Sacramento State under coach Bobby Braswell, a span covering seven games.

-Chris Branam

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Box: CSUN vs. Sacramento State (see text)