McQuarn Only ‘Pleased’ With Titan Win, 51-46

Basketball coaches tend to measure their teams’ performances by intangibles such as intensity, execution and judgment, often ignoring some of the more obvious statistics that the casual observer points to as determining factors in wins and losses.

That’s why you’ll sometimes see a winning coach looking like he’d just backed over his neighbor’s dog or a loser saying things such as, “We lost, but I’m happy with the way we played.”

The last time Cal State Fullerton played in the San Jose Civic Auditorium, the Titans shot 28% from the field and fell to their sixth straight loss on San Jose State’s home court. The last time the teams met--two weeks ago in Fullerton--the Titans dropped a four-overtime heartbreaker. And both teams had 3-3 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. records coming in.

So a win for Fullerton Saturday night--any kind of win--should have been enough to send Titan Coach George McQuarn dancing up and down the aisles of this 53-year-old facility. But McQuarn, hoarse from screaming at his players, was only “pleased” after Fullerton (9-8) held on to beat San Jose State (9-8), 51-46, in front of 1,537.

The victory gives the Titans sole possession of third place in the PCAA.

“Our game plan was simple,” McQuarn said. “We wanted to wage war for 40 minutes here. After the four-overtime loss, I figured that just one clutch basket, one lose ball, one free throw would be the difference tonight.

“I think we wanted this game a little more tonight. We almost surrendered when they went up by three (37-34), we dropped our heads for a while and we didn’t play smart at the end. But we went for that little bit extra and that was the difference.”

San Jose State Coach Bill Berry, whose team shot just 33% from the floor, saw things from a different perspective. But he too had little left of his voice when it was all over.

“I guess you could say that we hustled our way into a close game,” he said. “But we shot very poorly and you can’t shoot that poorly and expect to win.”

The Spartans opened in a triangle-and-two defense with one player shadowing Tony Neal and one guarding Kevin Henderson and the other three in a zone. Neal and Henderson had combined for 53 points in the four-OT affair. This time around, they totaled just 11.

But Kerry Boagni, the 6-8 transfer from Kansas who has run hot and cold more often than the Brady Bunch’s water heater, hit 6 of his first 8 shots and finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. And freshman Richard Morton, a 6-4 swingman from nearby Balboa High School in San Francisco, added 10 points in 19 minutes of action.

“Boagni’s shooting was a real factor in the early going,” McQuarn said, “and Richard Morton had by far his best game ever. His play in the second half kept us in the game. We needed someone to step up and he did.”

Fullerton, prone to what McQuarn calls “dead spots,” was nearly comatose for the last two minutes of the first half when the Spartans cut a 30-21 Titan lead into a three-point advantage at the half (30-27). San Jose State held onto the momentum through the intermission and outscored Fullerton, 10-4, at the outset of the second half to go up by three.

That’s when McQuarn was afraid his team was going to surrender. And that’s also when a freshman (Morton) took charge. Morton hit a 17-foot jumper, a 12-foot bank shot and a short follow shot in less than three minutes to put the Titans back up, 42-39.

“Coach told me to come in with confidence and not play like a freshman, to just relax,” Morton explained. “We knew it was going to be a war and that’s why I was crashing the boards.”

Berry, looking like a general whose strategy had backfired, just stood outside the Spartans’ dressing room, shaking his head. He’d won a battle, but lost this war.

“If someone had told me we were going to hold 44 (Neal) and 22 (Henderson) to 11 points, then I’d have thought we were going to win for sure,” he said. “We did what we wanted defensively. But when your best player (Ward Farris) goes 3 for 10 and (Reggie) Owens is 2 for 7, well, I guess that says it all . . . “

The Spartans had just one player, forward Stony Evans with 14 points, in double figures. He was also the only San Jose State player with more than two points who shot better than 50%.

“You have to give credit to their defense, though,” Berry said, “and Boagni, too. He took up the slack.”

He also might have to have his hearing checked soon. McQuarn took him out of the game and raised the decibel level to ear-splitting proportions more than once.

At one juncture, McQuarn was screaming at his team to “take 25 seconds off” (the 45-second clock before shooting). Boagni, standing only a few feet in front of his coach, promptly took--and missed--an 18-footer.

And, with 16 seconds left and Fullerton leading, 50-46, Boagni fouled Owens.

This time McQuarn couldn’t even scream. “Why’d you do that?” he asked, sounding like he might cry.

But, in the end, McQuarn was managing a smile and Fullerton was over the .500 mark for the first time since the opening game of the season.