NORTHRIDGE SLAMS IDAHO MATADORS ALSO HAVE STRONG DEFENSIVE EFFORT CSUN 63, IDAHO 46.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

An alley-oop dunk. A one-handed jam. A couple of two-handed slams.

Jermar Welch had all kinds of dunks in his repertoire Thursday to rovide for an exciting highlight reel and to expose Idaho's weak defensive presence inside.

The Cal State Northridge forward, a fifth-year senior, had another stellar game with 16 points, five rebounds and a block to lead Cal State Northridge to a 63-46 rout over Idaho before 1,081 at the Northridge Gym.

So where's this Welch been all season?

``He hasn't been hiding,'' Welch said. ``I can't explain it. I just want to win, to be honest with you.''

Offensively, CSUN was outstanding, even without guard Curtis Slaughter, who did not play because of tendinitis in his right lower leg. And the Matadors defense, which scored 20 points off Idaho's 23 turnovers, took advantage of Idaho's poor perimeter shooting and sloppy ballhandling to hold an opponent to its lowest point total in the last 353 games.

CSUN (11-15, 10-7 Big West), which is in a three-way tie for third in the Big West, will play Utah State in the regular season finale on Saturday at the Northridge Gym. The Aggies need the victory to assure themselves the Big West title.

Utah State lost to Pacific on Thursday and UC Irvine lost to Long Beach State. That means all of the seeds - with the exception of Idaho at No. 8 - for the Big West Tournament March 7-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center haven't been determined.

CSUN can earn any thing from the third seed to sixth. But if it loses to Utah State, it will earn the sixth seed.

``I'll tell you what, I've never seen anything like this,'' CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. ``This tournament next week is scary. Scary. Anybody can win.''

Idaho (9-17, 6-11) shot 2 of 20 from 3-point range. The swarming CSUN press and zone had a lot to do with it as it posted its best defensive effort since 1990 by holding Idaho to 46 points. CSUN beat University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 59-37 in 1990.

Senior guard Markus Carr had 13 points, seven assists and five turnovers. His work was made easy by delivering the ball to Welch inside.

``We always knew he had the ability to figure out a way to bring that out of him,'' Carr said. ``He's finally coming through for us.''

Welch has continued to play impressively over the last couple of weeks and has six dunks this season. He had help from freshmen guards Joe Frazier and Ian Boylan, who had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

It was a spirited effort from a team that had Braswell so infuriated at Tuesday's practice that he shut it down.

``I'm very pleased with that effort after throwing them out,'' Braswell said. ``They came out with a strong effort and showed a lot of character.''

Welch had six points in an early 12-2 run to give CSUN an 18-8 lead with 11:25 left in the first half.

Slaughter's status for Saturday will be a game-time decision, according to Braswell. Slaughter is the team's second-leading scorer with 8.7 points per game.

--Note: The Orange County district attorney's office has declined to file any criminal charges against Braswell, according to Lieutenant Will Glen of the Cal State Fullerton campus police.

During halftime of Saturday's game at Titan Gym, Fullerton student Kevin Jacks wiped his butt with a towel and threw it at Braswell. As Jacks was being escorted from the game by police, Braswell pushed Jacks.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Sidney Hamilton, left, and Marcus Carr of Cal State Northridge go to the floor to contest possession of the ball with Bethuel Fletcher of Idaho.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

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