Titans Pull Away in Final 8 Minutes to Beat St. Mary’s

By the law of averages, Cal State Fullerton should have done away with St. Mary’s quickly and completely.

Particularly if the averages are these:

--The Titans were averaging 96.5 points a game and making 50% of their shots.

--The Gaels were averaging 43 points a game and hitting only 27.5% of their shots.

Instead, the Gaels stayed with Fullerton for nearly 35 minutes before the Titans pulled away for an 85-65 victory Saturday in front of 2,025 in McKeon Pavilion.

This one was a 20-point victory that didn’t feel like one.

“The 20 points are a little deceiving,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said.

Fullerton led only 56-55 with 8:25 remaining, but then Mark Hill hit a short, driving bank shot and then a three-pointer. Cedric Ceballos hit a fastbreak layup and then Hill hit another off a St. Mary’s turnover. Agee Ward added a turnaround from the baseline and was fouled. He missed the shot, but Fullerton led, 67-55, and the game was over with 4:24 left.

“It doesn’t seem like this win was that easy,” Ceballos said. “But you can’t have a blowout every night.”

Fullerton struggled through a first half in which it shot only 35.5%--and in which Ceballos missed nine of 11 shots, scoring only six points.

“Our offense wasn’t sharp at all the first half,” Sneed said. “I thought we played a little nonchalant.”

But after scoring only 31 first-half points, the Titans scored 54 in the second half.

And Ceballos, after scoring six in the first half, finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds, making seven of 10 second-half shots.

“I only took two bad shots in the first half,” he said. “They just weren’t falling. After that things started clicking.”

Hill added 20 points, and Ward, starting for the second game in a row, had 16 points and eight rebounds.

James Dailey led St. Mary’s with 25 points.

The Titans fell behind, 2-0, but then led until midway through the second half.

St. Mary’s tied the score for the first time on a three-pointer by Mike Vontoure that made it 41-41 with 14:30 left.

Center Eric Bamberger gave the Gaels their first lead of the second half when he hit a 14-foot jumper with 12:20 to play, putting St. Mary’s ahead, 47-45.

Ceballos tied the score with two free throws. The Titans got the ball back on a 10-second call forced by their press, and Ceballos hit one of two free throws on the possession, making it 48-47.

Dailey hit inside to take the lead back, 49-48, but then Ward hit a turnaround, and Fullerton didn’t trail again.

St. Mary’s played the game without Coach Paul Landreaux, whose father died Friday night in New Orleans.

St. Mary’s (0-3) is a very different team from a year ago, when it made it to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament with a team coached by Lynn Nance that played zone defense and a deliberate offense.

This year, they have no returning starters and, with a recent back injury to starting guard Terry Burns, are down to nine available scholarship players.

But the Gaels played better than their statistics would have suggested they could.

“There’s no question I was please with the effort tonight,” said assistant Morris Hodges, who coached in Landreaux’s place.

His team shot 42.3% for the game.

“That’s better,” he said.

And until the late going, St. Mary’s had a chance.

“I give Fullerton a lot of credit,” Hodges said. “They hit some big shots down the stretch. Ceballos showed what an outstanding player he is down the stretch.”

In the first half, the Titans had a nine-point lead with less than four minutes left but lost it quickly.

St. Mary’s scored six points in a row, taking advantage of two Fullerton turnovers, the second a steal by Andre Durity.

But in the second half, Fullerton played more the style it wanted to.

“We got our break going and our press going and our rebounding going,” Sneed said.

Even though the victory didn’t come as quickly or as easily as Fullerton might have hoped, it did come, and it makes the Titans 3-0 for the first time since the 1983-84 season, when they finished 17-13.

“I think, basically, this was just our first road game,” Sneed said. “We were anxious to get a quick start. . . . It looked like we couldn’t shoot in the first half, but sometimes that’s what the road does to you.”

Titan Notes

After three games, point guard Wayne Williams is averaging 10.3 assists a game. . . . The Titan traveling squad is 12 players, and the Titans have a 13-man roster. Left behind for the trip to Moraga was Tom Parada, the 5-6 freshman walk-on who has become a predictable crowd favorite. Parada has gotten into both home games, but has one glaring statistic: In five minutes played, he has four turnovers.