Undermanned Titans Stun Utah, 59-57

This was to be the dismal beginning of a dismal basketball season for Cal State Fullerton, a team that has lost three players and a head coach since practice began Oct. 15.

Instead, the Titans rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to pull out an improbable 59-57 victory over Utah Thursday night in front of 10,228 in the Huntsman Center.

Wayne Williams, one of three players who started for Fullerton who had never played in a major-college game, hit 2 free throws with 7 seconds left, putting the Titans up by 4 to clinch the victory and start a Fullerton celebration. Utah’s Keith Chapman hit an uncontested layup at the buzzer. “It feels great, just great. I love it,” said forward Derek Jones, who made his first start since March of 1987 after recovering from serious injury in a drive-by shooting last year.

The victory made a winner out of John Sneed, who made his debut as the Titans’ acting coach. Sneed was named coach for the season after George McQuarn resigned Nov. 3.

But Sneed was least able of all the Titans to enjoy the victory. An illness--perhaps food poisoning--left him with a high temperature and nausea so severe he considered missing the game.

“I started feeling better the last 10 minutes,” he joked afterward, still clearly queasy.

Sneed inherited a team that had been predicted to struggle even before McQuarn resigned and three players chose to leave the team, the most recent one in the past week.

“Going into this game, the kids started believing in themselves,” Sneed said. “A win takes care of so many little individual things. They are jubilant and they don’t care how many minutes they are playing. But this is just the first step up a long hill.”

Fullerton surprisingly stayed close in the early going, and was tied with Utah, 15-15, after 10 minutes.

“We looked at the scoreboard, and we weren’t getting blown out. We were right in it,” Jones said. “So we went for it.”

Utah took a 31-26 lead by halftime. Then Fullerton opened the second half cold, attempting only 4 shots in the first 4:32 of the second half, and missing all of them.

Utah stretched the lead to 13 before Fullerton scored its first basket of the second half, a 16-foot jump shot by Williams that made it 39-28.

But Fullerton fought back, closing the lead to 43-38 with the help of consecutive baskets by Cedric Ceballos, who led Fullerton with 18 points. Marlon Vaughn hit a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 3, and then found Jones on an alley-oop that cut it to 44-43.

Fullerton got its first lead since the first half when Mark Hill pulled up for a bank shot of a drive, making it 46-45.

The score was tied, 54-54, with 1:11 left when John Sykes tipped a pass, and Williams broke downcourt, pulling up for a short jumper that put Fullerton ahead to stay.

It was defense that put the Titans in position to win.

Williams, a freshman from Manual Arts High School, held Van Gray to 2 points, 14 below his average. Mitch Smith, the Utes’ highly regarded center, scored 14, as did Watkins Singletary.

“That was tough defense,” said Utah Coach Lynn Archibald, whose team is 1-3. “We played timid in the final minutes. We were afraid to do anything.”

Fullerton’s starting lineup included three players who had never played in a major-college game. Williams started at point guard, and Ceballos and Hill are both community college transfers.

Center David Moody was making the first start of his career and forward Derek Jones was making his first start in 20 months.

For Fullerton, the game was a triumph over predictions.

From Jones’ viewpoint, it was a triumph for the players who remain.

“We’d come to practice lately and check the body count,” Jones said. “We’ve grown accustomed to it. It’s just a little more adversity for this team. We have 10 guys. We play with 10; that’s all we can do.” This was a game that seemed rather unwinnable a week ago. The Utes, who were 19-11 last year, are predicted to finish in the top half of the Western Athletic Conference this season.

“I’ve been coaching 17 years, and I always think we have a chance,” Sneed said.

“We talk about putting ourselves in a position to win, and we did that tonight. What this means down the road is that if we rise to the occasion like this, we have a chance against anybody.”