CS Fullerton Can’t Shed Its Shroud of Success

After three games, Cal State Fullerton was still waiting to find out something about its basketball team. No team had played the Titans closer than 15 points.

Tulsa (2-2), a team picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference, seemed likely to provide a challenge.

But instead, Fullerton came away with an 84-58 victory Saturday in Titan Gym.

“I felt that was the toughest ball game we’ve played so far,” Titan Coach John Sneed said. “I thought we had a chance to make a statement against a pretty good ballclub.”

Tulsa made a statement of a sort in the second half, falling into a slump during which the Golden Hurricane made only two field goals in the first 16 1/2 minutes.

By the time Cornal Henderson finally scored with 4:30 remaining, the score was 69-46--and Fullerton had its fourth victory without a loss.

Mark Hill, a senior guard, led Fullerton with 27 points, 20 in the first half. Cedric Ceballos, who scored only four in the first half, finished with 21, his low for the season.

The Titans’ start is their best since the 1983-84 season, when they started 5-0.

Fullerton will have a chance to match that start next Saturday when it plays Cal State Northridge at home.

In games against West Texas State and St. Mary’s, Fullerton held only three-point leads at halftime, but went on to win by at least 15.

But against Tulsa, the best team the Titans have played, Fullerton led, 41-31, at halftime--even though Ceballos scored only four points and had to sit out the final seven minutes because of three fouls.

Ceballos came back to start the second half, and helped fire a 10-0 run that put Fullerton ahead, 51-33, in the first five minutes.

Fullerton still isn’t set on a lineup. Agee Ward, a sophomore who was ineligible under Proposition 48 last season, became the starting power forward in the Titans’ second game. Against Tulsa, freshman Aaron Wilhite got the first start of his career, replacing senior John Sykes at center. There may yet be more jockeying for those inside positions, but Ceballos, Hill and Williams are set.

The starters stayed in the game until the final minutes despite the margin of victory. The first starter to leave the game for good was Ward, who fouled out with 2:59 left. Ceballos didn’t leave until 2:11 remained.

The only suspense was the question of when Tom Parada, a 5-foot-6 freshman walk-on, would get in the game. Sneed makes little secret of the fact that he kept Parada to become a crowd favorite, as Parada did instantly. But Parada committed four turnovers in four minutes in the Titans’ first game. He got into the second home game with one minute left, and didn’t enter Saturday’s game until 31 seconds remained.