CS Fullerton Gets Off to a Slow Start and Loses, 85-69

Cal State Fullerton took only 11 free throws to UC Santa Barbara’s 40 Saturday night, but Titan Coach George McGuarn couldn’t blame officiating for an 85-69 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. loss. The Titans were just outplayed.

Santa Barbara shot 67% from the floor, 83% from the line, outrebounded the Titans, 33-23, and turned the ball over nine fewer times.

McQuarn said: “They kicked our butts in every imaginable way. You can’t point to any one factor. I can’t imagine them playing any better for 40 minutes. I’m sure as hell not gonna cry about the officiating.”

It was the first time since 1981 that Santa Barbara has beaten Fullerton and it snapped a five-game Titan win streak. But, more important for Santa Barbara (11-10, 7-5) was that it moved the Gauchos a full game closer to the third-place Titans (12-9, 8-4).

“I think it was our best game so far,” UCSB Coach Jerry Pimm said, “let’s just hope it’s not our best game of the season. We’ve got a big four-game road trip coming up (San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada Las Vegas and UC Irvine), so we can use the momentum.”

One of the attractions of a Fullerton-Santa Barbara matchup is the head-to-head battle of two of the conference’s best inside players--the Gauchos’ Scott Fisher and the Titans’ Tony Neal.

It’s not unusual for the two to cancel each other out, but nobody would have guessed that their combined offensive output would be only eight points.

Neal, who came into the game averaging 18 points and shooting 49% from the floor, made one of nine field-goal attempts and finished with a season-low in points with two and rebounds with five. Neal, who has missed practice all week while battling the flu, also fouled out with nine minutes remaining.

Fisher, averaging 14 points, was scoreless in the first half and had six points and one rebound when he fouled out 15 seconds prior to Neal.

Conner Henry, with 24 points, and Mauryc Carr, with 22, did more than enough to pick up the slack and Pimm was able to get quality play from eight players.

Fullerton’s poor shooting had a significant impact on the opening minutes.

The Titans fell behind 11-0 from the outset as all five starters had at least one miss during the first 4 1/2 minutes.

Kevin Henderson finally broke the drought with a high-arch, rain-maker jumper, but the Gauchos were rolling and the crowd of 3,783--which also was spurred on by the incentive of a free pizza party for the loudest group--was in the game.

And the Titans were out of it.

Fullerton ended up shooting 33% in the first half, while UCSB shot 69% and took a 40-24 lead.

The Titans went to a zone press and it did cause Santa Barbara some problems, but it also resulted in 20 first-half free throws for the Gauchos. They made 16 of them. And that was only half of the Titans’ problems. With 13 minutes left in the game, five of Fullerton’s top six players had three or more fouls, forcing McQuarn to go to his bench more often then he’d like.

By the time it was over, Neal, Boagni and Henderson, the Titans’ top three scorers this year, had fouled out.

Henderson scored 23 points and freshman Richard Morton, whose previous high was 12, hit 8 of 13 field goal attempts and finished with 20 points.