CSUN PRESSES ON FOR ATTENTION; HEINLE CAPS UPSET OVER NO. ARIZONA : CSUN 76, NO. ARIZONA 74.

Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer

They pressed and trapped and pressed some more.

Just ``40 minutes of heaven,'' as it is called by the Cal State Northridge men's basketball coaching staff.

Heaven was the CSUN gym at 9 o'clock on Saturday night. The near-capacity crowd almost rushed the court, then launched into song after the Matadors upset Northern Arizona 76-74 and push themselves right back into the Big Sky Conference title hunt.

Celebration time, indeed.

``One of the biggest games since I've been here,'' is how CSUN coach Bobby Braswell described the Matadors' fifth consecutive victory in front of 1,358 raucous fans.

Brian Heinle's tip-in with 5.7 seconds left gave CSUN a 75-74 lead. Heinle then hustled back on defense and stole the ball when NAU tried a long pass.

Heinle made 1 of 2 free throws and the Lumberjacks, who sit atop the conference but now by only by one game, didn't get off a final shot.

Heinle, a 6-9 sophomore center, scored a game-high 23 points despite playing the last six minutes with four fouls.

``We did what we had to do down the stretch,'' said Heinle, who made 9 of 14 shots and has scored 45 points in the Matadors' last two games.

CSUN is 6-4 in the Big Sky, 14-8 overall, and NAU dropped to 8-2 and 16-5. With six conference games left, the Matadors now are within striking distance of first.

``Right now we say we are 2-0,'' Braswell said, referring to the Matadors' record in the second half of their Big Sky schedule. ``I just want to continue to play good basketball as we get toward the end of the season.''

The Lumberjacks jumped to leads of 9-0, 21-10 and 27-14 in the first half. But Braswell continued with the Matadors' plan to put on a full-court press and sometimes trap with two or three defenders.

The gap narrowed and the Matadors' intensity rose. Jason Crowe, who came off the bench to get a game-high eight assists, sensed the strategy was working.

``We were kind of dead,'' he said. ``Everybody was waiting for someone else to do something.''

But when Braswell gave the green light to press, the Matadors sprung to life.

``Even when we didn't get steals, we slowed them up from getting into their half-court offense,'' Crowe said. ``They have a great half-court offense.''

Slowing down NAU wasn't even Braswell's plan by using the press.

``I do it to get our team into another gear,'' he said. ``It lifts our guys up, it gets them more focused.''

CSUN trailed by nine (42-33) at the half but cut the lead to one twice before Crowe made an off-balance layup in the lane with 7:01 left to give the Matadors a 64-63 lead.

Four lead changes and two ties followed. Kawika Akina, who led the Lumberjacks with 23 points, made two free throws with 18 seconds left to give NAU a 74-73 lead.

Heinle was the best player on the court in the first half so it seemed fitting he was the hero in the end. He countered the Lumberjacks' 56 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes with 18 points.

``If we didn't have Brian in the first half we probably would have been down by 20 or 25,'' Braswell said.