Matadors Shaken Once Again; Top Rebounder Facing Surgery : College basketball: MRI reveals damage to Yard’s knee. If anterior cruciate ligament is torn, his season will be over.

NORTHRIDGE — Cal State Northridge’s beleaguered men’s basketball team, already reeling from a string of misfortune, took another big hit on Wednesday.

Chris Yard, the Matadors’ top rebounder, has either torn cartilage or a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed.

“If he has torn cartilage he could be back in a week,” said Dr. Lester Cohn, Northridge’s team orthopedist. “If he has a torn cruciate he’s out for the season.”

Either way, Yard, a forward, will not make Northridge’s two-game Midwest road trip for games Saturday against Northeastern Illinois in Chicago and Monday against Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

“This is another hurdle, another challenge, so let’s get on with it,” Coach Pete Cassidy said. “That’s all we can do.”

Cohn is scheduled to perform arthroscopic surgery on Yard’s knee Friday at Encino Hospital.

“I just hope he has to clean out my cartilage and that’s it,” Yard said.

Yard, a 6-6 senior, incurred what was diagnosed as a sprained knee during the first half of a game against UC Irvine on Jan. 8. He returned to action later in the game, a decision he now considers a mistake.

“I probably shouldn’t have finished that game, but I wanted to win,” Yard said. In Northridge’s next game, Jan. 11 at St. Mary’s, Yard was held out. But he was back in the starting lineup for the Matadors’ Jan. 17 game at Colorado.

However, he lasted only a little more than a minute before aggravating the injury.

“I’m surprised I lasted even that long,” Yard said Wednesday. “I just ran down the court and tried to stop myself and my leg buckled and gave out.”

Yard averages leads the Matadors with 5.9 rebounds per game and is third in scoring at 12.3.

“When he was healthy, he was dynamite,” Cassidy said. “He was really playing well.”

Shane O’Doherty, a 6-11 junior from Riverside, replaced Yard in the starting lineup against St. Mary’s. He is averaging 2.8 points and 2.4 rebounds.