Titans Hang On to Beat BYU for Championship

The noise was deafening. There were 18,120 spectators on their feet, screaming for Cal State Fullerton’s Richard Morton to throw up an air ball and give the Pride of Provo one more chance. He didn’t.

Morton hit both ends of a one-and-one free throw situation with 15 seconds to play to give Fullerton a 59-56 victory over Brigham Young in the championship game of the Cougar Classic Saturday night in a noisy Marriott Center.

Junior forward Derek Jones played the best game of his brief Titan career, leading Fullerton with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Henry Turner, named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored 14 points, as did Morton, Fullerton’s other representative on the all-tournament team.

The victory, coupled with Friday night’s victory over Texas Christian, can’t help but establish Fullerton (4-1) as a team to reckon with in the West. It is especially significant because it came in a hostile environment.

“This should really help this team down the road,” Fullerton Coach George McQuarn said. “We wanted to play BYU here and expose (our players) to that kind of crowd and environment.”

Morton’s free throws enabled Fullerton to hold off a furious BYU rally. The Cougars trailed, 57-49, with 1:16 to play but scored seven straight points to cut the Titans’ lead to 57-56 with 23 seconds remaining.

After a Jeff Chatman free throw cut Fullerton’s lead to one point, the Titans inbounded the ball to Morton, who dribbled into the frontcourt before drawing a foul. BYU Coach Ladell Anderson called a timeout.

“I knew they’d ice me (call timeout),” Morton said. “But that just gave me more time to concentrate on knocking ‘em down.”

BYU guard Brian Taylor forced up an off-balance, three-point attempt that missed, and Jones grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded to spark a Fullerton victory celebration.

McQuarn said: “We played great. We kept our poise and did the things we had to do to win. We held on under great adversity.”

The Titans had every reason to expect BYU would be their toughest opponent so far this season. Never mind that the Cougars entered the championship game with a 2-3 record. They had no shortage of quality personnel. How many college basketball teams can claim to have six returning starters?

One of the disadvantages of stocking your roster with Mormon athletes is that those athletes sometime interrupt their careers to go on missions. One of the advantages is that those athletes generally return, more mature and hungry to play.

So, besides four starters back from a team that finished 18-14 last season, the Cougars were supplied with two-thirds of a starting front line from returning missionaries.

Jim Usevitch, a 6-foot 9-inch center from Ocean View High School, was back from a mission to New Zealand. Michael Smith, a 6-foot 9-inch forward who set a Southern Section single-season passing record while playing quarterback at Los Altos High School, returned from a mission to Argentina. Usevitch had emerged as one of the best centers in the Western Athletic Conference before leaving two years ago. Smith is a talented offensive player. Together, they had provided an average of 24 points and 10 rebounds per game entering Saturday’s game.

So, despite the losing record, it was no great surprise the Cougars left the floor at halftime with a 28-27 lead. Fullerton led, 8-4, before BYU began settling down on offense. Chatman had eight points and Greg Humphreys five to help the Cougars overcome a 22-20 deficit in the final six minutes.

Morton led Fullerton with eight first-half points. The Titans shot only 36% from the field in the first half and were outrebounded, 22-17, but trailed by only one point.