THE COLLEGES : Jackson Takes Shots and Fullerton Beats San Jose State, 63-51

Cal State Fullerton is a team that struggles so much offensively that the crowd has taken to shouting “Shoot, Shoot,” when reluctant players get the ball.

Failing that, “Somebody else shoot.”

Thursday, as the Titans earned their seventh victory of the season, defeating San Jose State, 63-51, in front of a crowd of 1,718 in Titan Gym, much of the prodding was directed at Eugene Jackson, the Titans’ point guard.

So Jackson shot, making 7 of 9 field goal attempts and finishing with 17 points, the highest total of his career in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game.

Henry Turner (19 points) and Richard Morton (17) also provided their usual output as Fullerton won a struggle between two struggling teams.

San Jose State (10-13, 5-9) has lost six straight games, its longest losing streak since 1979, when the Spartans lost seven in a row.

The Titans (7-15, 3-10) had lost three straight games, but now have won three of their last six.

“It was a good win for us--a very, very good win,” said George McQuarn, Fullerton coach.

Part of San Jose State’s trouble is because Ricky Berry, the Spartans’ 6-foot 8-inch guard and the PCAA’s leading scorer, has been slowed by a foot injury he sustained against Cal State Long Beach Feb. 4.

Berry, who had scored just 16 points in each of his past two games, scored only 15 against Fullerton, marking his lowest output of the season.

Fullerton defended Berry both with a box-and-one defense and man-to-man, with Turner and Van Anderson guarding him. But it was not a game in which Berry was going to score a tremendous amount.

“We’re just struggling,” said Bill Berry, San Jose State coach. “When Ricky’s not playing right, we’re not playing right. If he were healthy we would not be struggling.”

In each of his first three seasons at Fullerton, Jackson for a time was the starting point guard. And in each of those seasons, he lost the job to someone else.

Such confidence the Fullerton coaching staff had in Jackson that the Titans tried very hard to recruit a point guard for this season--someone else who might take Jackson’s job again, in his senior year.

They didn’t find anyone, and Jackson has been the starter all season, except for two games in which he was injured.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Jackson said. “I wanted to prove to the team this year that it was going to be me.”

Thursday, Jackson felt particularly responsible because he knew San Jose State would use a box-and-one defense to try to contain Morton.

“I just wanted to take the shot if it was there for me,” Jackson said. “We were really due for a win--really due.”

Said McQuarn: “Eugene had an outstanding game. He played probably as well as he has since he’s been at Fullerton. He hit the big buckets when we needed them.”

San Jose State had a 30-29 lead at halftime, but Jackson, who had scored the Titans’ last two baskets of the first half, scored three of the Titans’ first four in the second half, helping them take a two-point lead.

Fullerton’s lead was still two points with seven minutes to play when Benson Williams made a three-pointer, giving the Titans a 48-43 lead. Then Turner made a reverse dunk off a Titan steal, making the lead seven.

The Titans took advantage of 18 San Jose State turnovers and 9 Fullerton steals to score repeatedly on layups and dunks--including several spectacular ones by Turner.

Fullerton pulled ahead by 10 with 2:43 remaining, and held on for its largest margin of victory since a 106-60 victory over Brown Dec. 30.

Williams, the walk-on who has been the Titans’ 13th man much of the season, was the first player off the bench, entering the game with 13:23 to play in the first half. McQuarn had said he would use Williams more often in an attempt to inject some offense after Williams made two jump shots against Nevada Las Vegas last week. He was 1 for 1, a three-pointer, Thursday in 10 minutes of play.