Long and Losing Road Ends in Stockton : Titans Get First Win Away From Home and Extend Pacific’s Losing Streak to 19

Just when it looked as if Cal State Fullerton might never win a game on the road, who should the Titans meet but the University of the Pacific.

Such a lovely sight they have rarely seen.

This was hardly the sort of late-season drama a team yearns for, but it probably was as much drama as remained in this season for Cal State Fullerton and the University of the Pacific.

Any real suspense for these teams disappeared in the first month or so of the season. What was left to each of them Saturday was an attempt to avoid a humiliating distinction.

Pacific was trying to break an 18-game losing streak, the nation’s longest among Division I teams. The Tigers also were hoping to get their first Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory of the season.

Fullerton was down to its final chance to win a game on the road. The Titans already were 0-13 away from home, and this was their final road game of the season.

In the end, Pacific proved the lesser of the least, and Cal State Fullerton came away with a 72-60 victory in front of 2,106 in Spanos Center.

Fullerton (9-16 overall, 5-11 in conference), which is ahead of only Pacific in the PCAA standings, was taking no chances.

When a substitute player committed a blocking foul with 41 seconds remaining and the Titans ahead by 10, Coach George McQuarn put the three starters who were on the bench back into the game.

With a road-game victory within grasp, he deemed it time for caution.

The Titans, who had won two straight games before losing to Fresno State Thursday, played down their first--and only--road victory.

“It feels good, but I’d feel better if we had beaten Fresno, too” said Richard Morton, who scored 18 points. “We’re just looking at each game as a chance to climb in the PCAA standings to get ready for the tournament.”

McQuarn said he didn’t stress the last-chance theme with his players.

“I said, “If we get beat, we get beat, and if we win, it’s no big deal.”

It would have been a big deal. The last time a Fullerton team went winless on the road was in 1980-81, McQuarn’s first season. But even that 4-23 team was 1-5 on neutral courts. Before Saturday, Fullerton had not won outside of Titan Gym.

Just as Fullerton saw its best chance for a road win in Pacific, the Tigers likewise saw an opportunity in the Titans.

When a Stockton Record reporter asked the Pacific coaches Friday whether they thought the Tigers were going to win a PCAA game this season, assistant coach Jerry Miller broke into strains of “It’s Now or Never.”

For now, it looks like never.

The Tigers (5-21, 0-16) do have two remaining PCAA games, but both are on the road, against San Jose State and Utah State.

The losing streak--now 19 games--is a single-season school record.

The Titans were led by Henry Turner, who scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, though he did not start the game because he overslept and missed practice the day of the game. Turner entered the game with about 14 minutes remaining in the first half.

Fullerton trailed by as many as five in the first half but led, 25-22, at halftime. The Titans stretched that lead to 10 just four minutes into the second half, and led by as many as 14.

Vincent Blow, the Titans’ starting center, scored a career-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Eugene Jackson added 12.

Christian Gray led the Tigers with 18 points, and Jon Barry added 11.

For Pacific, it was just one more of the same.

“We had a hard time getting into any constant offensive pattern,” said Denis Willens, who took over as coach last month after Tom O’Neill resigned.

It was nothing new.

Titan Notes

Henry Turner did not start because of a standing rule that if a player misses practice, he does not start. Benson Williams, Turner’s roommate, also missed the practice. The players missed the team bus, which left the hotel around noon. The phone in their hotel room was off the hook, Turner said, and they missed a wake-up call, as well as the bus. “They’re not real creative,” Coach George McQuarn said. “They didn’t come up with another way to get there.” Bobby Adair, who last started 14 games ago, started in Turner’s place.