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  Tuesday, Nov. 21 10:30pm ET
Bruins overtaken by Matadors
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Cal State Northridge coach Bobby Braswell and his players came into Pauley Pavilion as the only ones who believed they could beat UCLA (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP). The Bruins walked out stunned and convinced.

Ray Young
UCLA's Ray Young (34) looks for an opening while guarded by Cal State-Northridge's Carl Holmes.

Jeff Parris scored a career-high 27 points and Northridge confused the Bruins with a variety of defenses to pull off a 78-74 upset Tuesday night.

"This is a big win. We kicked off a Pac-10 team," Parris said. "We want to open some eyes."

UCLA (1-2) self-destructed with poor shooting down the stretch, while the Matadors (2-0) calmly put together a run when their double-digit lead shrank to two with 3:28 remaining.

"We knew we were going to win this the whole time," said center Brian Heinle, who had 13 points and six of Northridge's 19 turnovers. "When you say LA, you think of UCLA. This will put us more on a national level."

John Burrell added 17 points for the Matadors, who are just 3-22 against Pac-10 teams. They upset Oregon on the road last season, while their only other win came when California forfeited its victory during the 1995-96 season.

The Matadors, who won 20 games last season and are favored to win the Big Sky Conference, had lost three previous games against UCLA by an average of 20.6 points.

"We played UCLA two years ago. This time we had no fear, no intimidation," said Parris, one of three seniors in Northridge's veteran starting lineup. "We looked at UCLA as another Pac-10 team. The coach reminded us that UCLA is a very young team."

The Matadors used a 19-9 run over the end of the first half and start of the second to erase most of a 13-point deficit and trail by three. They took their first lead since the opening minutes by outscoring UCLA 21-5, including 13 unanswered points, for a 59-48 lead with 7:35 remaining.

The Bruins got within two with a 12-3 run, including two 3-pointers by Ray Young and a goaltending call against Northridge.

But Parris steadied the Matadors with a wide-open basket, then Markus Carr hit a 3-pointer to stretch their lead to 67-60 with 2:27 left. UCLA never got that close the rest of the game.

"It's back to the drawing board for us," said Steve Lavin, who lost a home opener for the second time in his five seasons as UCLA coach.

Jason Kapono, who averaged 21.5 points as the Bruins lost to Kansas and beat Kentucky in overtime in their first two games, was held to six points in 40 minutes despite getting some wide-open looks.

"They were switching their defenses and that got us off our scheme," he said. "You can't shoot well every game. It was a night where everyone didn't play well."

Earl Watson and Young scored 15 points each for the Bruins, who were 12-of-31 shooting in the second half and committed 24 turnovers in the game. Matt Barnes and Watson had seven turnovers apiece.

"It's frustrating when you have to learn this way, but I've been through this before," said Watson, a senior who's endured some major upsets. "I have to pull them up before it gets worse."
 


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