CSUN RALLIES TO WIN MATADORS ERASE 62-43 PSU LEAD CSUN 79, PORT.ST. 78.

Byline: Chris Branam Staff Writer

After giving a few wins away this season, the Cal State Northridge men's basketball team decided to take one.

The Matadors, showing unbelievable laziness in the first 30 minutes and incredible tenacity in the last 10, rallied to beat Portland State 79-78 Saturday night in front of 1,329 at Matador Gym.

CSUN improved to 16-9 and 8-6 in the Big Sky Conference. Northridge avoided falling into a sixth-place tie with the visiting Vikings, who dropped to 14-12 and 6-8 in conference.

``I didn't want to lose again,'' said CSUN center Brian Heinle, who had a game-high 19 points, including eight in a game-closing 24-6 run for the Matadors. ``I didn't want to lose at home. We've got a lot of people coming out to support us and (I thought) `If we lose one more game, we'll probably have about five fans for the next one.''

With 15 minutes left, Portland State led by 19 at 62-43 and lifeless Northridge looked destined to lose its second game in a row at home, and second of the season at Matador Gym; Eastern Washington won here 70-68 on Thursday.

For the next eight minutes, the Matadors traded baskets with the Vikings, who shot 57.4 percent (31 of 54) for the game and even better - 58.3 percent - in the second half.

Then something happened: CSUN, spurred on by the vocal home crowd, turned it on and simply outplayed PSU on both ends.

``We were fed up,'' Heinle said. ``We were just fed up. We (decided) we're not going to lose anymore.''

Ironically, a CSUN 11-0 run came just after Jerry West, the Lakers' vice president of basketball operations, left the arena; West came to scout PSU swingman Ime Udoka.

Udoka hurt his left knee at Northern Arizona Thursday and went back to Portland for an MRI. West, it seems, had seen enough of this game. But what he missed will be remembered in Northridge.

``That was an amazing comeback,'' said Markus Carr, who made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to give CSUN a 79-76 lead. ``It was a game of runs, and we made one hell of a run at the end.''

After Carr made the free throws, PSU guard Ivan Gardner drove in for a layup with seven-tenths of a second left to cut the lead to one at 79-78. CSUN inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.

Garner had a chance to give the Vikings a lead with 7.6 seconds left but he traveled in the lane. It was the 25th and final Vikings turnover.

``The biggest difference was the turnovers,'' CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. ``We did what we needed to do defensively. When we play well defensively, our offense feeds off that.''

That certainly was the case with Heinle, the 6-10 junior who drew more charges and blocked or altered more shots in the final eight minutes than he probably had all season.

``Brian Heinle played the best defensive game of his career here, and his life,'' Braswell said.

CSUN closes the regular season this week with home games against Weber State on Wednesday and Sacramento State on Saturday.