Fullerton Puts Its Back Against the Wall : Titans Blow Lead and Chance to Clinch Playoff Spot in Overtime Loss

Nothing has come easily for Cal State Fullerton’s basketball team this year, but Thursday night the Titans suffered their toughest setback, losing to the University of Pacific, 85-77, in overtime in front of 1,627 in Titan Gym.

The defeat means that Fullerton must beat UC Irvine Saturday in its regular-season finale to qualify for the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. Tournament. If the Titans (7-10 in conference and 14-15 overall) lose, they’ll miss the postseason party no matter what Utah State and UC Santa Barbara, both of which have 7-10 records, do in their last game because both hold tiebreaker advantages over Fullerton.

Pacific (8-9, 15-13) gained a spot in the tournament with Thursday’s victory.

The Titans appeared to have clinched the game--and a spot in the tournament--when they went ahead, 63-56, with 2:47 remaining in regulation. But UOP forward Rich Anema, who finished with a career-high 42 points, hit two straight three-pointers to close the gap to 63-62 with 1:40 to play. Anema made 16 of 22 field-goal attempts and 8 of 9 free throws.

Fullerton’s Kevin Henderson and Richard Morton each made a pair of free throws, sandwiched around one free throw by Pacific’s Drew Rodgers, to put the Titans ahead, 67-63, with 24 seconds left in regulation. Christian Gray scored on a layup for the Tigers with 11 seconds left, but Herman Webster put Fullerton ahead, 68-65, making one of two free throws with seven seconds remaining.

Then Rodgers threw in a desperation 22-footer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

The Tigers took a 76-73 lead in overtime when Gray lost control of the ball on a drive, but it went right into the hands of Karlwin Matthews, who dropped it in the basket. UOP then made 11 of 12 free throws to seal the win.

The Titans seemed to have lost all their momentum when Rodgers’ bomb swished through the net, though.

“The play was designed to go across to Rich (Anema),” a smiling Rodgers said, “but when they kicked it up the sideline, it was wide open for me. I just squared up and shot it.”

Sounds simple enough. But the big question was whether he should have had the chance to shoot it. Fullerton Coach George McQuarn was asked if someone should have fouled Rodgers, since that would have limited UOP to a maximum of two free throws and would have left UOP one point short.

“We don’t teach unsound basketball and fouling 25 feet from the basket is unsound,” he said. “We never should have been in that position, though.

“We led by 11 in the first half and by seven late in the game. But then they hit the three-pointers.”

Center Webster led the Titans in scoring for the fifth straight game with 28 points, hitting 9 of 14 from the field and 10 of 16 at the line. Henderson continued to improve after sitting out seven weeks because of a broken foot. He scored 23 points, 18 of which he got in the second half.

Although Pacific was in the bonus situation before it was charged with a foul, it fell behind 22-11. The Tigers made just 2 of their first 15 field-goal attempts. Thanks mainly to Anema, who had the most productive outing in the PCAA this season, UOP hit 8 of its next 10 shots from the floor before the intermission and trailed just 37-31 at halftime.

“We were looking to put ourselves in position to be a fourth or fifth seed (in the tournament) by winning our last two games,” McQuarn said. “We weren’t even thinking about what would happen if we lost. But our destiny is still in our own hands. And we were in a position to win tonight, but . . .

“I guess that’s the kind of season we’ve had.”