Boagni, Morton Lead Fullerton Past Fresno

Before the season began, the coaches and the media figured Cal State Fullerton to be a middle-of-the-pack basketball team in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. But after the Titans had won five in a row to go 7-3, it looked as if they might make more of an impact in the conference.

Then Kevin Henderson broke his foot, Richard Morton severely sprained his ankle and the promise turned to frustration. So much frustration, in fact, that last week Coach George McQuarn announced his retirement effective at the season’s end.

Monday night at Selland Arena, Henderson saw his first action since Dec. 22, Morton made his first start since Jan. 11 and the “real” Kerry Boagni made an appearance as the Titans beat Fresno State, 67-58, in front of 10,132 unusually quiet Bulldog fans.

“Near the end of the game,” Fresno Coach Boyd Grant said, “I looked down the sidelines and said to myself, ‘I think the wrong guy is quitting.’ ”

Grant’s lapse into depression can be excused. This was the Bulldogs’ fourth home loss this season, tying the most home defeats in one season since the facility became known as “Grant’s Tomb” nine seasons ago. Fresno State, a perennial PCAA power, is 5-6 in conference play and 12-10 overall.

The Titans (5-6, 12-11) are hardly tearing up the conference, but Grant thinks that’s just a matter of bad luck.

“I think all of you can see how good Fullerton would have been if Henderson and Morton didn’t get hurt,” he said. “I’m not saying this because they just beat us and I didn’t think it at the beginning of the season, either. But, in my opinion, you were looking at what should have been the second-best team in the West tonight. They’re certainly only second to UNLV in our league from a talent standpoint.”

Henderson, who says he’s playing at 60% or less, played just six minutes and was obviously limping, but Morton was 7 of 12 from the field (including two three-pointers) and finished with 18 points. And Boagni, who led the team in scoring five of the first six games before falling into a horrible shooting slump, connected on 5 of 7 three-point attempts and led all scorers with 22.

“I’ve got my confidence back and confidence is everything for a shooter,” said Boagni, who has averaged 24 points in his last three games, hitting 14 of 22 from beyond the PCAA’s 19-foot 9-inch three-point arc. “The shots are dropping again and the team is looking for me again.

“And I stopped listening to people who said I was a streak shooter and just started shooting again.”

The 6-foot 8-inch senior had one three-pointer and Morton had two as Fullerton took a 9-5 lead in the early going. The Fresno faithful must have been wondering if they were going to see the scoreboard jump in multiples of three all night.

But the Bulldogs, led by center Brian Salone and forward Jos Kuipers (both of whom ended the evening with 19 points), rebounded to take a 28-26 halftime lead.

Fullerton, whose first-half play was described as “sluggish” by McQuarn, came out playing inspired defense after the intermission. A follow shot by sophomore Vincent Blow (whose nine-point, eight-rebound performance Monday was probably the best of his career), a steal and slam by Henry Turner and a Turner jumper put the Titans ahead, 39-32, with 14:52 remaining.

But the 6-8 Kuipers does some pretty impressive long-range shooting, too, and he hit a pair of three-pointers as the Bulldogs tied the game, 49-49, with 7:13 left.

The Red Wave--normally vociferous from tipoff to final buzzer--finally got in the game, but Fullerton refused to fold. The Titans scored six straight points after the tie, then maintained the margin before putting the game away by making eight of eight free throws in the final 1:24. Two of those by Henderson increased the senior guard’s consecutive free throw streak to 33.

“It’s just nice to see the floor again,” a beaming Henderson said.

These are the kinds of games that might make a lame duck coach want to reconsider, but McQuarn hasn’t changed his mind.

“We played with an air of confidence in the second half,” a very hoarse McQuarn whispered. “We made some really big defensive plays in the second half and even when we momentarily lost our poise we managed to regain it.

“When you come in here and play through that defense and that crowd . . . well, it’s a big, big win.”