Cal State Fullerton Hasn’t Found Home-Court Advantage in Titan Gym : Commentary

Cal State Fullerton fans may have been upset with the referees after Thursday night’s controversial four-overtime loss to San Jose State, but the Titans’ undoing had more to do with poor facilities than poor officiating.

The three officials--Tom Fincken, Dallas Plater and Bill Simmons--did not hear a 45-second buzzer sound, and allowed San Jose State an overtime basket that should not have counted.

Here’s the situation that brought the gymnasium’s problems into focus:

With about one minute remaining in the fourth overtime and San Jose State leading, 91-89, the Spartans’ Ontario Johnson was trapped in a corner with a few seconds left on the 45-second clock. He faked a shot, tried to pass, but still had the ball as the buzzer sounded.

Johnson then threw an airball, but--for those who could hear the buzzer--the shot was after the fact.

Still, San Jose State center Matt Fleming caught the ball in mid-flight and scored on a short bank shot. Fleming’s basket was legal because Johnson’s field goal attempt--ruled to be taken before time expired--caused the clock to be reset. The Spartans eventually won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game, 97-92.

Fincken, who was in the grasp of Titan Coach George McQuarn after Fleming’s score, called time to try to figure out why a couple thousand people were screaming and waving their arms like madmen. He gathered his officiating partners into a midcourt conference and asked them if they had heard the buzzer. They said they hadn’t.

Then, Fincken queried Fullerton student John Repka, who was manning the 45-second clock. Repka told Fincken: “There was a 45-second violation on San Jose State.” But, there wasn’t a whole lot of conviction in Repka’s tone as he told the officials. Of course, there were a lot of a people staring at him. San Jose State Coach Bill Berry was about two feet away, screaming in Fincken’s ear, “Are you gonna run this game or is he ?”

John Dangleis, the PCAA supervisor of officials, was sitting two rows behind Repka but didn’t offer any assistance.

Fincken overruled Repka. And even though the call was wrong, his decision was sound. A student, earning $20 per game by running the 45-second clock, shouldn’t decide a major-college basketball game.

The main reason Fincken decided to allow the basket, though, was his belief that he saw time remaining on the 45-second clock when Johnson shot. And he might have. The 45-second clock at the West end of Titan Gym--the one broiled in controversy--has about three or four little lights on the top row that never go out. Thus, a “1” looks like a “7” and a “4” looks like a “9.” It’s confusing.

A Fullerton videotape shows that Johnson’s shot was taken after the buzzer. The officials made a mistake. But they shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame.

The 2,140 in attendance Thursday night shouldn’t drown out the officiating equipment, making it all but impossible for the referees to do an accurate job. A Fullerton spokesman said the 45-second clocks (and buzzers) are similar to those being used by other schools. But the clocks seem to work most of the time at other schools.

At Titan Gym Thursday night, play had to be stopped once when a fan stepped on a cord leading to one of the 45-second clocks on the floor. But walking by the clocks is the only way fans can get to their seats in Titan Gym.

Another problem is the gym scoreboards, which have been malfunctioning for about five years. Fans are unable to determine player and team foul situations because of the faulty system.

The antiquated scoreboards are a joke. Booster Kevin Forth offered to install new ones a couple of years ago, but the administration didn’t want his beer company’s logo on the scoreboards.

The old ones haven’t worked correctly or consistently for years. New ones have been reportedly on the way for more than a year (the school’s administration finally gave approval to use the beer insignia).

Another problem in the San Jose game was the public address system, which malfunctioned early in the second half and again, for 10 minutes, in overtime. Furthermore, San Jose State’s radio broadcast was cut off when a member of press row moved a chair and accidentally disconnected an extension cord.

Meanwhile, Lynn Eilefson, the former Fullerton athletic director who is taking a similar position at San Jose State, was squatting on the sidelines, not saying a word Thursday night. There was no emotion on his face, but he probably was cheering inside--for himself. He knows he’s getting away from these kinds of headaches and going to a program where the words “Division 1” mean something.

Eilefson, in fact, is finishing up business at Fullerton on the Spartans’ time (with the blessings of San Jose State President Gail Fullerton) because Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb insisted that Jan. 10 would be Eilefson’s last day at Fullerton.

Guess who doesn’t have to pay for Eilefson’s trip to the NCAA meetings at Nashville next week?

So, the Titans lose and Eilefson wins and Fullerton’s low-budget hi-jinks continue to provide the high-pressure world of college athletics with some comic relief.

Sports Information Director Mel Franks, who has witnessed these kinds of scenes during his five-year tenure at Fullerton, looked up from a bird’s nest of telephone wire he was trying to sort out for a reporter in a conference room near the gym and smiled.

“That’s us,” he said, repeating Titan Football Coach Gene Murphy’s favorite phrase.

And that’s a shame.