PCAA Roundup : Utah State Gets Past Fullerton, 73-63

Cal State Fullerton’s game against Utah State Thursday night was expected to showcase four of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.’s top six scorers.

Also, the Aggies game into the game averaging 88 points per game, second-highest in the nation.

But it was hardly a great shootout as the Aggies transformed a three-point lead with five minutes left into a mundane 73-63 victory at Logan, Utah.

The big four--Fullerton’s Tony Neal and Kevin Henderson and Utah State’s Greg Grant and Vince Washington--wound up 32 points below their collective season averages.

Grant, the Aggie forward who scored 46 points in two games last week, had 13 points Thursday night.

Washington, who came into the game with a 23-point average, managed 16, but shot 38% from the field (5 of 13).

Henderson, who averages 16.5 points, scored 12, and Neal suffered through his fourth straight sub-par performance since his alleged kidnapping Feb. 9.

Neal was 2 for 13 for four points. He was shut out in the second half.

Neal was averaging 18 points and almost 12 rebounds before Feb. 9. In the last four games, two in which he had the flu, he is averaging 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Neal had company. Forward Kerry Boagni, the Titans’ third-leading scorer with an average of 12, scored four points, none in the second half.

“I thought we played well for 38 minutes,” Titan Coach George McQuarn said. “I think it’s kind of hard to win big when neither Neal or Boagni scores in the second half.”

Freshman Richard Morton, who scored 21 against Santa Barbara last Saturday, scored 19 for the Titans Thursday night.

“Morton was the best player on the floor for us tonight,” McQuarn said.

But Morton couldn’t catch the Aggies alone. Utah State had a 39-37 halftime lead and Jeff J. Anderson, who scored 27 points, and Bill Floyd, who scored 11, helped the Aggies finally pull away.