CSUN NOTEBOOK: CSUN SEEKS SOMETHING OTHER THAN PERFECTION.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

John Burrell was the first to say it. Then Carl Holmes followed suit: Cal State Northridge was ready to go undefeated in the Big Sky Conference this season.

Then came Northern Arizona. And there went the perfect basketball season just three games into the conference schedule.

The shot Northern Arizona's Adam Lopez nailed - a long, game-winning 3-pointer Thursday at the Walkup Skydome - didn't keep CSUN (9-7, 2-1) from winning the Big Sky. But that shot prevented it from winning every game.

``It was just a goal,'' Burrell said. ``It wasn't like all we were thinking about was going 16-0. It was just a goal. Being the good team that we are, you have to set high goals for yourself and try to reach them. It doesn't mean we can't win a lot more games or maybe win out. Who knows? We'll still play at the level we know we can play at and go on from there.''

CSUN was down by 10 points at halftime but rallied with an 11-0 run to start the second half. Northern Arizona made seven 3-pointers in the first half and shot 67 percent. It was a close game the rest of the way, although the Matadors had the lead with 3 minutes left and held it until Lopez's 3-pointer.

Northern Arizona's play broke down and Lopez was well beyond the arc but it still fell. Holmes shot a baseline jumper from about seven feet out with two seconds left but it hit the rim and bounced out.

``We were talking about that (Thursday) in pregame meal - about how they wanted to be 16-0 and how if they won this game they could win any game in the Big Sky,'' Lopez said. ``We proved it to them that we were the better team (that night).''

--Defensive stands: CSUN continued its stellar defense against opposing teams' leading scorers by holding Cory Schwab to just six points, all in the first half. Schwab, one of the nation's best 3-point specialists, was 2 of 9 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3-point range. Schwab was averaging 17.8 points per game. The Matadors shut down Schwab but Casey Grundman, who was fourth on the team in scoring, had 14 points and Matthew Gebhardt added 13.

--Take that: Northern Arizona did to CSUN what CSUN did to its first two conference opponents: It shot the ball extremely well. The Lumberjacks shot 67 percent in the first half. CSUN shot 67 percent against Sacramento State and shot 47 percent against NAU. Not that 47 percent is all that bad, but it's 15 percent below its average over the last two games.