Fullerton Almost Throws It Away : Titans Barely Hold On for 62-60 Win Over San Jose State

Cal State Fullerton completed its sweep of a three-game home stand Monday night with a 62-60 victory over San Jose State in front of 2,477 spectators in Titan Gym. Take notice, Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. The Titans are back.

Hold it. Not so fast. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that--three straight wins or not--the Titans are still an average team with average problems.

After a six-game losing streak, the Titans came home and got themselves back in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. race, if a nine-way tie for mediocrity can be called a race. But Monday night’s win didn’t exactly have the Titans swaggering off the court or making bold postgame predictions about the remainder of their weird season.

This was a game the Titans richly deserved to lose, and almost did. They had a 14-point lead with 1:46 to play, and nearly left the floor talking about the one that got away. It wasn’t so much that San Jose State rallied as it was the Titans came apart in the final two minutes.

From the time Vincent Blow put in an offensive rebound to give Fullerton a 60-46 lead with 1:46 to play, the Titans were outscored, 14-2. In between, there were dumb Fullerton fouls, errant inbounds passes, and enough general confusion to leave Titan Coach George McQuarn wondering if he really won when it was over.

“It was embarrassing, the way we played in that last minute,” McQuarn said. “We must have made five or six mistakes in that last minute. We tried to lose the game. It was absolutely embarrassing.”

Realistically, it should never have been that close. Not when Ricky Berry, who scored a game-high 29 points, is the only San Jose State player to score in double figures. Not when the Spartans shoot 38% from the field. Not when the Titans outrebound San Jose State, 34-24. And not when the Spartans had four players with three fouls by halftime.

But Fullerton’s inability to inbound the ball in the closing minutes, and some inspired play by Berry and his teammates turned what had all the makings of a rout into another headache for McQuarn.

“I don’t know how we’re gonna be after this,” McQuarn said. “If we had got out of there with an 8- or 10-point win, we might be feeling pretty good about ourselves.”

Junior guard Richard Morton had 22 points, Derek Jones added 14 and Herman Webster had a career-high 13 rebounds to help Fullerton (4-6, 11-8) build the lead it seemed to try so hard to throw away.