CSUN UNLEASHES FRUSTRATION; RECENT EVENTS BRING MATADORS TOGETHER IN 31-POINT ROUT OF PORTLAND AAU.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

That wasn't a basketball game that took place at the Matadome on Sunday, it was a two-hour group counseling session. The Portland State players should have demanded the going rate for shrinks for simply showing up for their exhibition game against the CSUN women's team.

For sure, the Matadors' 103-72 shellacking of the Saints was terrific therapy. For 10 days the Matadors had kept bottled up a viperous mixture of emotions: abandonment, confusion, disbelief, embarrassment, melancholy, resentment. Shaken by the arrest on campus of their head coach, Michael Abraham, on drug-trafficking charges and the forced resignations a few days later of two senior athletic department officials, the Matadors insulated themselves from the outside world.

They ate together, laughed together, cried together and, most of all, protected one another from the public's prying eyes. By Sunday, the CSUN players were ready to unburden themselves to an outsider.

My, oh my, were they ever. The Matadors swallowed up the sacrificial Saints like a tsunami. They led by 18 points after 11 minutes and by 27 at intermission. In the second half, they continued to run so many circles around the Portland State players, they nearly reached the record.

Five more baskets, 10 more free throws or any combination thereof and they would have tied the school mark set against UC Irvine on Feb. 3, 1977.

To put the record in perspective, it's older than all but two of the CSUN players.

``We took out a lot of aggression on (the Saints),'' said a smiling interim head coach Frozena Jerro, who tried her level best to keep the game in its proper context in the four days between her promotion and Portland State.

``I kept telling myself, `It's just an exhibition game, it doesn't count in the standings, it doesn't matter,' '' Jerro said.

Like heck, it didn't.

``This game counted for so much more than wins and losses,'' Jerro was able to admit after all was said and won. ``It's a relief to get a win under our belts. Just for team morale it was important, after all the stuff that has happened.''

Jerro, the only one of Abraham's assistants who was with the team in 1997-98, was named to take his place in a vote of the players that carried the blessing of CSUN president Blenda Wilson. She got the promotion on Wednesday and hadn't slept much since.

Try as she might to count sheep, she kept seeing wolves. In her darkest moments, she saw her own face at the door, baring fangs.

``I've gone through the whole gamut of emotions,'' Jerro said. ``I feel weird getting this promotion. So many people have been hurt by what has happened, I can't feel good about benefiting from it.''

No one is begrudging Jerro her break. In fact, many of her fellow head coaches on campus could be found in the crowd of 462. They came as a show of support for her, proving that the CSUN family isn't nearly as dysfunctional as it has looked the past couple of weeks.

To be sure, the basketball team has never been more united. This squad, with players from four different countries, didn't become a true melting pot until it was thrown in the fire.

``We took what's been going on and we turned that negative into a positive,'' said redshirt sophomore Tina Greer, who made her CSUN debut a memorable one by coming within two steals of a triple double. ``Before (Abraham's arrest), everybody was going through the motions. But since then we've really pulled together. The silver lining in the cloud is that we've all grown a lot closer. We've got each other's backs.''

Greer transferred in last year from Xavier because she desired an up-tempo pace. Sure enough, she provided a positively pulsating beat, assiduously pushing the ball upcourt on her way to a 10-assist, 14-point, eight-steal afternoon.

Sophomore Edniesha Curry, whose pregame routine last season included giving Abraham a hug, was herself mobbed by her teammates after leading all scorers with 30 points in 29 minutes. She also collected seven assists.

Curry and Greer were the standouts, but everybody got into the act. Twelve players logged at least seven minutes and 11 of them scored at least four points.

The result was breathtaking. Unless, of course, you were the Saints, in which case it was asphyxiating.

``Too bad it didn't count,'' Jerro said.

Then she laughed for the first time in a week and added, ``Oh, but it did.''

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Photo

PHOTO Cal State Northridge interim coach Frozena Jerro instructs her players during the Matadors' 103-72 victory over Portland AAU.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News