SportsThursday, December 22, 2005 12:42 PM CST

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ISU's late flurry just missed its final mark

By Bryan Bloodworth
bbloodworth@pantagraph

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- Neil Plank knew his Illinois State basketball team needed a basket and there wasn't much time remaining in Saturday night's nonconference basketball game with California State-Northridge at the Matadome.

"I was just trying to make a play," said the senior guard, who drove down the lane with six seconds remaining before being knocked to the floor by two defenders.

Plank was able to keep possession of the ball and shovel a pass, while lying on his back, to teammate Dana Ford, who got off a potential game-tying 3-point shot from the top of the key with 2.3 seconds to go.

Ford's shot was on target, but bounced off the rim, allowing Northridge to survive a furious 13-point Redbird rally in the final four minutes and earn a 73-69 victory before 1,013 people. The result left both teams with 5-3 records.

"All we needed was one more three," said Plank, referring to the fact ISU made six straight 3-pointers and seven on its last eight shots to erase a 59-46 deficit over the final 3:33. "We had all those threes at the end. If we had made one more we could have won.

"We were only down two (when Plank started his drive), so we only needed a basket to tie it. I kinda got sandwiched by two defenders, but on the road you're probably not going to get a call like that. We still had a pretty good look."

Dana Ford, who led four ISU players in double figures with 15 points, thought his final shot had a good chance of hitting its mark.

"I was set when I shot it," said Ford. "I might not have held my follow-through quite long enough."

Dana Ford tied the game at 69 with his third 3-pointer during the rally with 18.5 seconds to go, bringing the Redbirds back from a 60-51 disadvantage with 69 seconds remaining.

After Ford made his game-tying basket, freshman Brandon Holtz was guilty of a foul on Northridge's Mike Efevberha in the backcourt with 16.7 seconds left. Efevberha made both charity tosses to give Northridge a 71-69 lead.

"I started chasing him trying to get in his way and slow him down," said Holtz. "I saw two other guys coming at him. I kinda got bumped from behind and knocked into him. I wasn't trying to foul him."

ISU coach Porter Moser made it very clear that Holtz wasn't at fault on the play.

"That one was on me," said Moser. "Brandon really felt bad, but he has to know that was my fault. I have to do a better job of communicating with him. It was so loud with everyone yelling. Everyone (on the ISU bench) was screaming not to foul, but Brandon was on the other side of the court.

"We had been fouling up to that point trying to get back in the game. When Dana hit his shot, we didn't want to foul. It's my job to make sure the guys know the situation. There's no blame on Brandon. Now he has to forget it and be thinking about improving and moving on."

After Ford missed his last shot, Northridge's Thomas Shewmake made a pair of free throws with one second left to end ISU's hopes for a comeback. The Redbirds return to action Thursday at 6:05 p.m. with their Missouri Valley Conference opener at undefeated Indiana State.

Northridge also helped itself at the free throw line. The Matadors made 31 of 39 free throws, including its first 14 in a row, while ISU only got to the line six times and made three.

The all-Big West Conference officiating crew called 27 fouls on ISU and 11 on the home team.

"To a degree is the key phrase," said Moser when asked if visiting teams shouldn't be accustomed to shooting less free throws on the road than home teams. "But to be healthy, I have to look at what we could have done better to make up for that.

"That's just the way I have to approach it. Numbers don't lie. I can't blame the officials. We have to see what we can do better to find a way to win games."

Northridge coach Bobby Braswell said his team wanted to be aggressive on offense.

"We put in a new wrinkle in our offense where we were driving the ball a lot more and attacking the basket," added Braswell. "We thought we could get to the free throw line if we did that because we knew they weren't going to play much zone.

"We thought we were a little more athletic than them. The other big thing was rebounding. I thought we rebounded well. We did a good job of boxing out and they had to come over our backs to get rebounds."

The Matadors owned a 42-25 advantage on the boards with Shewmake leading the way with 12. Plank paced ISU with seven. The Redbirds had only four defensive rebounds from its post players.

"Four defensive rebounds in 74 minutes of possible playing time from our post players ... that's unheard of," said Moser. "We have to have more production than that. They have to go get the ball."

It didn't help ISU that leading rebounder Greg Dilligard was limited to 16 minutes (eight in each half) of action because of foul problems. He fouled out with six minutes remaining with two rebounds.

The game was tied 30-all at halftime as neither team was able to hold more than a four-point lead. However, Northridge hit ISU with a 15-7 run in the first five minutes of the second half to gain a 45-37 lead.

Efevberha, who led the Matadors with a game-high 27 points, scored 12 of the 15 tallies during the early second-half spree. The junior guard scored 23 points after halftime.

Northridge made 12 free throws without a miss in the first half, while the Redbirds didn't have an attempt. That, in part, led to Moser's first technical foul of the season.

"I was disappointed with the technical because all I said to (the referee) was that it was 12-0 in free throws in the first half," said Moser, who picked up the foul with 17:38 left in the game. There wasn't any profanity and he was 40 feet away (across the court). He said I was talking too much."

Dana Ford was joined in double figures by Nedu Onyeuku with 14, a career-high 11 from Holtz, and 10 from Plank, who also had a game-high seven assists.

"Brandon came in played well," said Moser. "Every time he puts up a shot, I feel like it is going in. The way Northridge trapped on defense, I thought Brandon would get some open looks and he did."

The Redbirds shot 41.5 percent from the field, while the Matadors made 45.2 percent of their shots. ISU made eight more baskets than the home team.

ISU forced the Matadors into 27 turnovers, while admitting to 17. The Redbirds only had seven turnovers in the second half.

"Our guys responded when the game got tight," said Braswell. "We played one of our better defensive games of the year. You have to give ISU credit because they hit some tough shots with guys in their faces."

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