A Tragedy, a Triumph for CSUN

NORTHRIDGE — You’d think they had just won the NCAA tournament the way Trenton Cross and Derrick Higgins of Cal State Northridge tore into the press room, screaming and high-fiving everyone they could find on Saturday night.

Hard to believe the day that ended with Northridge’s 77-66 Big Sky Conference victory over Eastern Washington started as one of the saddest of the season for the Matadors.

Coach Bobby Braswell’s brother, Victor, died early Saturday. The cause was undetermined, but the coach said his brother, 40, was in the hospital with a heart problem earlier in the week.

Northridge players weren’t expecting Braswell to show up to the game until they saw him about four minutes before tip-off.

“I saw him and I thought I was hallucinating,” Cross said.

It was the second time this season Braswell has opted to coach in the face of personal tragedy. Braswell’s father, James, died Nov. 26, the day before Braswell coached his first victory at Northridge.

Braswell said he chose to coach on Saturday night because “I’ve got two families. My immediate family at home and this family here. I didn’t think I could abandon this family either.”

But Saturday remained somber as the Matadors played a sloppy first half, going into the locker room trailing, 35-28.

Then Braswell delivered an emotional challenge to his players.

The Matadors came out of the locker room pumped with energy. They opened the half with Keith Higgins soaring for Lucky Grundy’s pass and dunking on an alley-oop, but the best was yet to come.

Northridge trailed, 41-34, before Grundy made a three-pointer to ignite the rally with 15:47 left.

Moments later, Derrick Higgins dunked an offensive rebound. It was the first of four Northridge dunks in five minutes, giving the Matadors a 53-46 lead and starting them on their way to their second victory in two Big Sky Conference games.

Northridge (6-6) is at .500 at its latest point in a season since being 7-7 in 1992-93.

“This is a game where you’ve got to be having fun,” Derrick Higgins said just after his burst of enthusiasm in the press room.

“In the first half everyone was tentative because of the news with Coach Braswell and his family. Because we have gotten real close to him.”

Added Northridge’s Tom Samson: “That man is our leader. And when he tells us we can do something, we believe him. And he tells us we can beat anyone on our schedule.

“When he told us [at halftime] we responded. We responded like no other Northridge team has since I’ve been here.”

Derrick Higgins had 14 points for Northridge, Cross added 12, Keith Higgins and Gerald Rhoden each collected 11 and Kevin Taylor scored 10.

Eastern Washington (4-8, 0-2) made one serious charge at Northridge in the second half.

With 2:53 to play, Karim Scott made a short jumper. Zac Claus intercepted Taylor’s inbounds pass and flipped the ball to Travis King, who converted a three-point play to pull the Eagles to within 64-60 with 2:44 left.

But Northridge took care of the ball the rest of the way and Eastern Washington could not hit its three-point shots.

As the Matadors were putting the final touches on their victory, Braswell sat down on the bench, took off his glasses and wiped tears from his eyes.

“At the end,” he said, “all I could think of was my brother.”