Titans Turn It Around This Time : Turner, Morton Score 26 Points Each in 73-59 Win Over Fresno

It might have been nice to win four straight games during the regular season, but that wouldn’t have gotten Cal State Fullerton to the second round of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament.

Now, after a 73-59 victory over Fresno State Wednesday in a first-round PCAA tournament game, the Titans have won four straight games and six of their past seven.

Modest as it may be, the winning streak Cal State Fullerton has mounted is its longest of the season--and, of course, its last.

The Titans didn’t manage to put together three consecutive wins until the final game of the regular season.

The next loss, whenever it occurs, will end the Titans’ season.

Fullerton will play again today in the second round, facing top-seeded Nevada Las Vegas at 9 p.m.

The Titans (12-16), who lost to Fresno State only two weeks ago in one of their worst performances of the season, had little trouble against the Bulldogs Wednesday.

Fullerton pulled out to a 16-point lead with 8 minutes remaining in the first half and led by as many as 18.

Fresno State (9-19) cut the lead to 9 with two minutes to play, but Fullerton made 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch.

“I’m very pleased . . . very, very pleased,” Titan Coach George McQuarn said. “We’re just a different team from what we were against Fresno State the last time. When you have some success, it gives you confidence, and when you have confidence, you don’t play it safe. We’re not playing it safe right now.”

Although Fullerton defeated Fresno State in overtime, 64-57, in the teams’ first meeting this season, the Titans played one of their poorest games in a 57-54 loss two weeks ago.

Fullerton shot a season-low 32.7% in that game, and Fresno shot 47.8%.

Wednesday, it was altogether different. Fresno State made only 39% of its shots, and Fullerton made 53%.

The Bulldogs were without former Mater Dei star Mike Mitchell, who injured his knee just before the last Fullerton game.

It had been rare this season for Fullerton’s two scoring threats--Richard Morton and Henry Turner--to have good games on the same night.

Wednesday, Morton and Turner each scored 26 points, and Van Anderson added 10.

Either Morton or Turner has been the Titans’ leading scorer in every game this season, but it also seemed that one or the other would always be a bit off. Lately, it has been different. In the past three games, they have both had 20 or more points.

Against Fresno State, Morton made 11 of 16 shots and Turner made 9 of 15.

Turner and Morton attribute this in part to the emergence of several other Titans as potential scorers.

“The rest of the players are coming around, so they can’t (use a special defense) on Morton so much anymore,” Turner said.

Morton said: “Instead of us being a two-man team, we’ve become a five-man team. That’s what me and Henry need to play well together.”

That “five-man team” concept is not far from the truth, and is something that concerns McQuarn.

Morton, Turner and Eugene Jackson each played 39 or more minutes Thursday night, and Morton played the full 40. Two substitutes played a total of 14 minutes between them, and the only other player to get in the game played less than a minute.

“I’m really concerned at this moment about fatigue,” McQuarn said. “But we can only play five or six kids if we expect to be efficient or effective.”

Fatigue would be a particular factor in a game against UNLV, of course, and McQuarn points out that to win the tournament, Fullerton would still have to win three more games.

In the past, when only the top 8 teams made the tournament, a team needed to win only three games to win the title. With all 10 teams in the tournament, any of the bottom four seeds would need to win four games.

In UNLV, the Titans will meet the team that has eliminated them in each of the past three years. But this is supposed to be a tournament in which the Rebels are vulnerable, and McQuarn is as convinced of that as anyone.

“I think we have a realistic shot at any team. A number of teams have a realistic shot at Vegas, and I like to think we’re one of those teams. I feel we have a shot at any team, and I think the kids feel we have a shot.”

Fullerton lost to UNLV twice this season by scores of 63-57 and 77-61. The Titans had a chance to win the first game with just more than 10 seconds remaining.