The Season That Might Have Been : Despite Injuries and McQuarn’s Brief Retirement, Titans Manage to Win 16

It was the kind of a season that might make Louisville’s Denny Crum--10-year contract and all--consider retiring.

It was the kind of season that made George McQuarn announce his retirement, before a combined effort by his peers, school administrators, players and fans changed his mind.

And it was, in the final analysis, the Season That Might Have Been for Cal State Fullerton’s basketball team, which eventually ended up with a 16-16 record despite a litany of distractions, departures and key injuries.

Before the 1985-86 campaign ever got under way, two top junior college recruits who had verbally commited to Fullerton--6-9 Ron Barnes and 6-7 Maurice Smith--decided to go elsewhere. Then, after five games, 6-8 Carl Pitts, who was supposed to start for UCLA before failing to meet academic requirements there, quit the team.

Still, the Titans managed to jump out to a 7-3 start. They won five in a row and averaged 93 points a game during the streak.

“Do you realize how good this team would be with one legitimate inside player?,” Ed Goorjian, a first-year Titan assistant, asked at the time.

Junior Herman Webster, a 6-foot 6 1/2-inch center who didn’t play in three of the first five games, eventually became a force inside, but by that time the Titans were thinking more about survival than the Top 20.

Fullerton brought that five-game win streak to Portland on Dec. 22--a day later than scheduled after heavy fog and holiday travel caused the game to be postponed--and five minutes after tipoff, senior point guard Kevin Henderson broke a bone in his foot. The injury might not hurt Henderson’s future in the NBA, but he was lost for seven weeks and the Titans’ once promising season went down with him.

“That night at the airport, I had the feeling someone was telling us not to go,” McQuarn said. “I guess we should have listened.”

Fullerton lost its next game, at Pepperdine, when Richard Morton was called for a lane violation (he moved his foot) while Eugene Jackson was waiting to attempt the game-tying free throw in the final seconds.

Two days later, the Titans lost the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. opener when New Mexico State sank a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer and went on to win in overtime. Five days after that, the Titans dropped an overtime decision at Utah State when the Aggies didn’t miss a shot in the extra period.

Then, things got even worse. Morton crashed into the basket support and was lost for five games. He had averaged 15 points a game until Henderson was hurt and was averaging 24 points per game while Henderson was out.

At this point, McQuarn decided Fullerton’s only chance to win was to keep the score down. So the Titans, who once ran people out of the gym, were reduced to playing catch on the perimeter until the 45-second clock was halfway expired.

The ploy worked in upsets at San Jose State and at home against UC Irvine. But it failed miserably against University of the Pacific, UC Santa Barbara and Nevada Las Vegas. And then the Titans lost to New Mexico State in overtime again.

An upset of Fresno State in Fresno--with Morton and a limping Henderson back in the lineup and senior Kerry Boagni rediscovering his shooting touch--was a temporary bright spot before home losses to Fresno State and Utah State.

The defense managed to pull off victories against San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara, but the Titans dropped an overtime decision to Pacific at Titan Gym and Fullerton was faced with either winning the regular-season finale at Irvine or missing the PCAA tournament for the first time in its 11-year history.

The Titans responded with a 78-68 win that McQuarn said would be one of the highlights of his career “when I retire the next time.” And Fullerton beat UCI again, 66-58, in the first round of the tournament.

Fullerton beat the Anteaters three times in 1986, but the Titans’ season ended when they lost for the third time to Las Vegas in the semifinals.

“I told the kids before the game that regardless of the outcome, I loved them as a team,” McQuarn said. “After all the setbacks, the disruptions, the lack of continuity, the constant adjustments that such a young team was forced to make, we still managed to win 16 games.

“It was a disappointing season in many respects. But there were some real highs, too. And I guess we all learned something about facing up to adversity.”