CSUN POWERS PAST PEPPERDINE : CSUN 68, PEPPERDINE 57.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

Three days ago Bobby Braswell was sick of losing. Today he's just sick.

``I'm dying,'' the Cal State Northridge basketball coach said.

It feels good.

His team had done everything he'd asked of them thus far this season - except play good in the final 10 seconds. It didn't come down to that Thursday at Firestone Fieldhouse on the Pepperdine University campus.

Braswell, who has sore throat, said he felt victory was assured ``with 11 seconds left.''

The Matadors did not make a field goal the final 6-1/2 minutes but did something they had not done too much of - made field goals in the closing moments, nine of 10 in the final 56 seconds to be exact. And they won 68-57 over a Pepperdine team that might still be listening to coach Lorenzo Romar talk in the locker room.

``It's a good day,'' senior center Tom Samson said after Northridge stopped its losing streak at four games by beating a Division I team for the first time this season.

Junior point guard Lucky Grundy, a walk-on who started for the fourth straight game, led the Matadors with a career-high 15 points and seven assists.

Pepperdine's Marques Johnson scored a game-high 20 points.

Northridge, which has had four losses this season decided in the final 10 seconds, improved to 2-5 on a season-high 57.9 percent performance from the field. The Waves, who shot 40 percent from the field, dropped to 1-7.

The Matadors snapped a 17-game road losing streak. They host UC Irvine on Saturday and UC Santa Barbara on Monday. That means Braswell, who yelled less than usual (which is still a lot) a chance to rest.

``I should get sick more often,'' said the coach.

It was a meeting Thursday of basketball teams undergoing similar growing pains. Both teams with first-year head coaches expected to bring a new tradition of winning. Both teams with their best players ineligible until next season. Every player on the court with a desperate look in their eyes.

``This was a must-win situation,'' Samson said. ``On paper we matched up really well against them.''

True. Northridge entered the game shooting 41.9 percent from the field, Pepperdine 41.4. Neither team would want to bet the farm on a free throw. And for a change, Northridge was not at a size disadvantage.

The Matadors won because they did not collapse, something they had done four other times this season.

``When it got down to the end, we made a lot better decisions than we had all year,'' Braswell said.

Or, as Samson observed, ``We played with our brains for the first time down the stretch.''

Pepperdine made two turnovers in the final 1:10, while Northridge made 10 of 12 free throws.

The smiles started with 40 seconds to play when Grundy sank two free throws. When Grundy made two more and Pepperdine called timeout with 38 seconds to play and Northridge ahead 65-54, Keith Higgins pumped his fist and jumped in the air.

In the stands, a longtime Northridge watcher said, ``Who would have thought Northridge would ever beat Pepperdine?''

Actually, there was a precedent. Northridge beat the Waves in 1968. That was even before Pete Cassidy was head coach.

Only two teams have had more fun over the years than Pepperdine has had with the Matadors. Entering Thursday's game, Pepperdine was 7-1 against its neighbors from the Valley. (Weber State is 9-0 and UNLV 10-0 against Northridge.)

But it was recent history the Matadors were happy to forget about.

``It's been a long time coming,'' Grundy said of the victory. And he wasn't thinking about 28 years ago.