Once Again, Logan Is Pits for Fullerton, 90-80

This city has been a difficult place for Cal State Fullerton, and a few other teams as well, to play over the years.

But the Titans took the court at the Spectrum Thursday and started satisfactorily enough, with a basket by Derek Jones on the opening possession.

That was about it.

Utah State, pushing the ball upcourt against a lax and mistake-prone Titan defense, scored the next 17 points, taking a 15-point lead less than 7 minutes into the game and finishing with a 90-80 victory.

That put Fullerton’s Logan losing streak at seven games.

“We buried ourselves,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said.

With that, Fullerton’s three-game run with victories over UC Santa Barbara, Nevada Las Vegas and UC Irvine was finished.

Mark Hill, whose career-high 33 points was the only Titan effort worth commending, broke Fullerton’s cold spell, knocking down a three-pointer. That was the first of nine points in a row for Hill, who got the Titans back in the neighborhood. They managed to cut it to five points at 25-20, but Utah State scored the next seven points, pushing it back to 12. Utah State led by 11 at the half, and Fullerton didn’t get within 10 points in the second half, until only 11 seconds remained, when Hill’s school-record seventh three-pointer made it 88-80.

Utah State, playing a fast-breaking, sharp-passing game, made 62% of its shots, hitting 38 of 61.

That was accomplished with an assist from the Titans, who allowed 27 layups.

“We were just not getting back on defense,” Sneed said. “I think they put us in shock by getting us down like that. . . . But it wasn’t just our transition defense, it was definitely our half-court defense too.”

For Utah State (10-13, 8-6), it was an easy evening. Every player on the roster scored in the first half, and five players finished in double figures, led by Reid Newey’s 15 and Nathan Grant’s 14.

“We pushed the ball up the floor and made some excellent decisions,” Utah State Coach Kohn Smith said. “We had a great inside-outside attack.”

Fullerton’s record fell to 11-11 and 6-7.

Utah State had one major misfortune in the game, when freshman guard Albert Chappell injured his knee in the late going. A preliminary examination indicated that he has torn a ligament, and will be out for the season.