CS Fullerton Falls to New Orleans in Double Overtime

Odds were that Cedric Ceballos would have a bad game one night.

The question was whether his Cal State Fullerton teammates could pick up the slack.

Tuesday night against New Orleans, Ceballos, who had led the Titans in scoring every game this season, was off. He made only 1 of 12 shots from the floor and was 0 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 2 points. He had been averaging 25.

Despite that, Fullerton had its chances, but let them all get away.

The last one came with time running out in the second overtime when Fullerton failed to heed Coach John Sneed’s request for a timeout. Instead, Wayne Williams launched a desperation shot that missed, and New Orleans won, 66-65, before 1,150 in Titan Gym.

Sneed also wanted a timeout when Fullerton had the ball and a 65-64 lead with 22 seconds left, but Mark Hill threw a pass out of bounds.

New Orleans used its final timeout, and Tony Harris made a 12-foot shot with 4 seconds left for the 66-65 lead.

In regulation, Fullerton had led by as many as 8 points in the second half before New Orleans rallied to take a 48-46 lead with 3 minutes left. Fullerton tied it, 48-48, on Derek Jones’ short turnaround off a pass from Marlon Vaughn with 2:36 remaining.

New Orleans had the ball with 40 seconds remaining but didn’t get off a good shot. Two desperation attempts--the last one from 25 feet--missed, sending the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, Fullerton took a 55-51 lead on Hill’s 3-pointer, but a 3-pointer by Robert Hokett cut it to 55-54. The Titans still led, 57-54, after Vaughn made 2 free throws with 23 seconds left. But New Orleans’ Leonard Bennett went to the line with 10 seconds to play after Vaughn fouled him while going for a rebound after a New Orleans miss.

Trailing by 3 with no timeouts remaining, Bennett made the first and missed the second, giving New Orleans a chance to get the rebound and score to tie the game. The strategy worked on the second rebound tip. Willie Richardson lofted a shot on which John Sykes was called for goaltending, tying the score, 57-57, with 5 seconds left. Fullerton’s 30-foot desperation shot by Hill was off.

“Sykes got some key rebounds, but he made 2 bad defensive plays that hurt us. That (goaltending) killed us,” Sneed said.

Fullerton’s Sykes and Vaughn each had 14 points, a career high for Sykes.

“Cedric’s problem wasn’t the opponent as much as himself,” Sneed said. “He must realize opposing coaches are going to try to shut him down. He’s going to have to get through that.”

Hokett led New Orleans (4-3) with 18 points.

Fullerton fell to 5-3.