Fullerton Finally Finds a Way to Beat San Jose

Basketball coaches tend to measure their team’s performance by such intangibles as intensity, execution and judgment, often ignoring statistics that the casual observer uses to determine the factors in wins and losses.

That’s why you’ll sometimes see a winning coach looking as if he 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 at 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 held on to beat San Jose State, 51-46, before 1,537 fans.

The win gives the Titans sole possession of third place in the PCAA. Both teams are 9-8 overall.

“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 voice left when it was 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, one guarding Kevin Henderson and the other three in a zone. Neal and Henderson had combined for 53 points in the four-overtime affair but totaled just 11 points this time.

But Kerry Boagni, the 6-8 transfer from Kansas who has run hot and cold, 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 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, hitting 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.