CS Fullerton Plays at Cal in NIT Game

The first order of business when Cal State Fullerton got an unexpected phone call from the ego rebuilders at the National Invitation Tournament was to make sure players were informed that their season had been extended. In some cases, this was a little easier said than done.

For instance, Herman Webster, Fullerton’s center and team captain, was in San Diego visiting friends and relatives Sunday when school officials tried to reach him at his mother’s home. Webster got the word . . . sort of.

“My mother called me and said, ‘You guys got a knit bid,’ ” Webster said. “It took me awhile to figure out what she was talking about. I said, ‘Oh, you mean an NIT bid.’ ”

There was plenty of surprise when the NIT announced its second-chance teams last Sunday and Fullerton (17-12) was among them. But tonight at 7:30, a week after a 99-65 loss to top-ranked Nevada Las Vegas in the semifinals of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament, the Titans will play California, (18-14) in the first round at Harmon Arena in Berkeley.