Orange County Sports / The Colleges : Cal State Fullerton Notebook : For Once, Titans’ Problems Don’t Include Free-Throw Line

So far this season, Cal State Fullerton’s basketball team has had to contend alternately with sickness, injury, poor shooting and poor rebounding, among other things.

But one part of the Titans’ game that hasn’t been a problem--for a change--is free-throw shooting.

Fullerton traditionally has had trouble at the line. Not since the 1981-82 season, when the Titans shot 73%, have they been as high as 70%. In the intervening years, Fullerton’s free-throw percentage has dropped as low as 63.

The Titans have yet to manage a .500 record, but after nine games, they are shooting 76%, having made 132 of 173 attempts.

The Titans’ top eight players are all making 62% or more of their free throws, and six players are making more than 75%. Richard Morton leads the team with an 83% mark--35 of 42.

Much of the Titans’ past trouble at the line has resulted from one or two poor free-throw shooters. One in particular was Tony Neal, a four-year starter from 1981-85 who averaged in double figures most of his career, but shot well below 50% from the line during his sophomore and junior seasons--35% his junior year. Another good player who often struggled at the line was Ozell Jones, a Titan from 1979-84 who twice averaged less than 50% from the line.

How much of the Titan scoring load are Morton and Henry Turner carrying? Consider this: Even though Morton and Turner together have played just 30% of Fullerton’s total minutes, they have scored 54% of Fullerton’s points.

Against the University of San Diego last week, Morton and Turner combined to score 55 of Fullerton’s 71 points.

No other player averages in double figures, and only four others average more than five points a game.

Dennis Rogers, who has worked in professional baseball and was an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona for four years, has been named an assistant to Fullerton’s first-year baseball coach, Larry Cochell.

Rogers, 36, has been minor-league field coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirate organization for the past two years. Before that, he was a minor-league manager and coach in the Oakland A’s organization. Rogers was an assistant at Pomona from 1980 to ‘83, when the Broncos won two NCAA Division II national championships under Coach John Scolinos.

Cochell, formerly at Northwestern, was hired at Fullerton in September, replacing Augie Garrido, who resigned to become the coach at Illinois. The Titans will play their first game under Cochell Jan. 26 against Cal Poly Pomona.