Veterans Have the Edge in Titans’ Scrimmage

The first ovation was for Derek Jones, who made his first appearance in a Cal State Fullerton basketball uniform since being seriously injured in a drive-by shooting more than a year ago.

The second was for John Sneed, who became the Titans’ acting coach after George McQuarn resigned a week ago.

After that, a gathering of 500 sat back in Titan Gym for a preview of the Fullerton team, which Wednesday night consisted of only 10 uniformed players. Brent Calvin was out with an injured knee, and Mike Brown was ill.

Cedric Ceballos, the highly regarded 6-foot 7-inch junior transfer from Ventura College, scored 30 points, hitting 3 of 6 from 3-point range. But Ceballos’ performance wasn’t enough to pull out a victory for the White team, which lost to the Blue, 89-78.

Benson Williams, the walk-on player who is the Titans’ leading returning scorer after averaging 2.7 points last season, led the Blue with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Jones added 24 points, making 10 of 14 shots, and had 11 rebounds. Randal Moos added 20.

The Blue team consisted of five veterans. The White featured three newcomers and two redshirts.

Other than Ceballos, the best performance by a new player came from Mark Hill, a 6-3 guard who scored 19 points.

“To say we’re ready for a real ballgame--they’re a long way away from that,” Sneed said. “But if you deal with expectations, they probably did more than I expected after just 3 days’ practice.”

Gena Miller, a 6-3 sophomore center, scored 23 points, to lead the Orange team to a 62-46 victory over the Blue in the women’s intrasquad scrimmage. Stacy Hunt added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting.