Fullerton Is Forced to Go to OT to Beat San Jose State, 70-69

Tom Desiano’s shot was nothing more than a 12-foot jumper, but it made the Civic Auditorium crowd come alive.

It came with 55 seconds left in San Jose State’s game against Cal State Fullerton Saturday night, and it gave the Spartans a one-point lead, their first of the game.

It also put victory into the minds of most of the crowd of 1,874, who ultimately were let down. San Jose State, a team made up mostly of football players, a team manager and assorted other walk-ons since 10 players started a boycott in protest of Coach Bill Berry last month, has lost its last 13 games, including eight since the walkout.

This one, a 70-69 Fullerton victory in overtime, was the closest yet. Johnny Johnson, who as a Spartan tailback led the Big West Conference in rushing, hit the first of two free throws with 8 seconds left to tie the score. But he missed the second, and the game went to overtime.

San Jose (5-19, 1-14) had a 69-67 lead as overtime ran down, but Fullerton’s John Sykes rebounded Cedric Ceballos’ miss in the final seconds and went up for a backwards dunk. An official called a foul on the play, and Sykes hit a free throw with 1 second remaining, saving the Titans the humiliation of becoming the first team to lose to San Jose State’s makeshift bunch.

“Games like this, you wish nobody lost,” said Berry, whom the boycotting players accused of extreme verbal abuse. “Under the situation, under the circumstances, I may be doubly disappointed that we couldn’t get over the hump just for the kids. I certainly could have used the boost, too.”

Craig McPherson led San Jose with 20 points. Derek Jones, who with Cedric Ceballos led Fullerton with 19 points, said the team had improved “maybe 100%.”

The Titans (12-11, 7-7) had to hang on to win despite shooting 56% in the game, their highest percentage of the season. Fullerton took a 27-13 lead at the outset, making 12 of its first 13 shots, with the only miss because of offensive basket interference.

San Jose trailed by only three at halftime, but was down by 10 with 12 minutes to play.

“There are a million things you can say, ‘What if, what if,’ Berry said. “I’ll be doing that tonight. I just hope (the players) don’t.”