Fullerton Gives Pepperdine a Battle, 67-64

Without injured point guard Kevin Henderson, Cal State Fullerton was supposed to be hurting against Pepperdine Saturday night.

But it was the Titans who did much of the harm before Pepperdine slipped away with a 67-64 win before 3,027 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

The Waves won their 18th straight at home and improved to 9-2. Fullerton fell to 7-5.

Henderson, his team’s best defensive guard and leading scorer, was unable to play because of a badly sprained ankle. Without him, Pepperdine and Dwayne Polee were supposed to run wild.

But Fullerton, using a sticky zone defense, held Pepperdine without a point for more than three minutes after the start of the game. And Polee didn’t make his first basket until there 6 minutes 40 seconds were left in the half.

Fullerton led, 15-14, with 11:11 remaining in the first half. But that was the Titans’ last lead as the Waves began hitting almost every shot they threw up.

Grant Gondrezick came off the bench and scored 10 points from the outside on 5-for-5 shooting in the first half to give Pepperdine a big lift, and the Waves, who shot 79% in the first half (19 of 24), led at intermission, 40-33.

Pepperdine led the rest of the way, but never comfortably. And with nine seconds to play, Fullerton’s Eugene Jackson was at the line for a one-and-one opportunity and a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. Jackson hit the first shot to make the score 65-64. But he didn’t get a chance to take the second.

As one of the referees was handing the ball to Jackson for his second attempt, the Titans, apparently trying to position themselves close to the basket for a possible rebound, were called for a lane violation when Richard Morton moved back from the lane.

The ball went over to Pepperdine, and Henry Turner fouled Pepperdine’s Eric White with seven seconds on the clock. White made both ends of the one-and-one, and Fullerton was unable to get off a shot in the final seconds.

Polee scored 14 points to lead the Waves, and four of his teammates finished in double figures. Jon Korfas scored 13, White and Anthony Frederick each had 12 and Gondrezick finished with 10.

Richard Morton led the Titans with 18 points, while Kerry Boagni added 16 and Herman Webster 13, including 9-for-9 shooting from the foul line.

Fullerton Coach George McQuarn and Morton disagreed with the call that kept Jackson from shooting his vital second free throw. Both McQuarn and Morton said they thought Morton had moved back from the lane before the referee had handed the ball to Jackson.

McQuarn said that the referee’s decision was similar to a “mystery call” made against Fullerton’s Leon Wood two years ago when Pepperdine upset the Titans at Firestone. He said that in that instance, Wood was called for a five-second violation late in the game when no one was guarding him.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said he agreed with the call on Morton, but he added that “it should never have got to that.”

Harrick said that Fullerton should be given credit for playing aggressively and well. He said that Pepperdine, however, was “flopping around and missing foul shots, and we have to find our confidence.”

“Fullerton is a nice team,” Harrick said, “but with Henderson, they’re more than that--they’re a lot better with him. We are struggling and have been for four straight games.”