Titans Make It Look Too Easy in Victory

Cal State Fullerton was looking forward to a test Saturday--and to the attention that would come with passing it.

The Titans came into their game against Tulsa unbeaten after three games, but without having played any impressive teams.

Tulsa, they believed, would give them a chance to grab a little limelight. Instead, the Titans came away with another runaway victory, 84-58, too easy to be impressive.

After four games, the Titans’ closest margin of victory is 15 points. The first test, presumably, is still to come.

Tulsa (2-2) didn’t cooperate much. After challenging Fullerton with physical play and tough offensive rebounding in the first half, the Golden Hurricane turned innocuous in the second half with a dreadful shooting performance.

Tulsa made only one field goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half and finished only six of 30 for the half.

“We had a good effort tonight as a team, but we shot poorly,” said Tulsa Coach J.D. Barnett. The Golden Hurricane made only 16 of 57 field goals in the game, a 28% performance.

Titan Coach John Sneed praised his team’s match-up zone defense.

Fullerton had a 41-31 lead at halftime on the strength of 20 first-half points by Mark Hill, who finished with a season-high 27.

But Tulsa’s cold spell did in the Golden Hurricane, and Fullerton’s 10-point halftime lead grew by leaps and bounds.

By the time Cornal Henderson made the team’s second field goal of the second half with 4:35 remaining, Fullerton led, 69-46.

People might have been more impressed if the margin of victory had been smaller. The Titans made it look too easy.

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

The Titans’ 4-0 start is their best since the 1983-84 season when they began 5-0.

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

The next test probably will come against Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo., on Dec. 18.

In games against West Texas State and St. Mary’s, Fullerton had 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 faced so far, Fullerton took a 10-point lead at halftime even though Cedric Ceballos scored only four points and had to sit out the final seven minutes with three fouls.

Ceballos came back to start the second half. After a Tulsa basket, he helped spark a 10-0 run that put Fullerton ahead, 51-33, in the first five minutes.

With Fullerton ahead by 14, Ceballos put the first markings of a blowout on the game when he took a no-look pass from Wayne Williams on the break for a flying dunk.

He worked inside for a short bank shot on the next possession, and the Titans led by 18. The lead was never smaller than 16 again.

Tulsa, whose only other loss was to Southwest Missouri State, a team that made the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament last season, was led by Wafe Jenkins’ 14 points and Henderson’s 11.

Despite the margin of victory, the Titan starters played well into the late going. The first starter to leave the game for good was Agee Ward, who fouled out with 2:59 left. Ceballos didn’t leave until only 2:11 remained.

But it was a game in which the backups played substantially. Only two Fullerton players--Williams and Hill--played more than 30 minutes.

Guard Dareck Crane scored six points in seven minutes and had a steal, and David Moody played 14 minutes, scoring five points.

“Our depth is a nice change from last season,” Sneed said.

Titan Notes

Fullerton still isn’t set on a lineup. Against Tulsa, freshman Aaron Wilhite got the first start of his career, replacing senior John Sykes at center. There might yet be more jockeying at that position--Sykes played 25 minutes to Wilhite’s 15. “(Wilhite) has been playing well,” Coach John Sneed said. “That’s where you win a starting job, in practice. I gave him a look. Maybe it will wake Sykes up.” Sykes was averaging four points and five rebounds a game. . . . The last suspense in the game was to see when Tom Parada, the 5-foot-6 freshman walk-on, would get in the game. Sneed makes little secret of the fact that he kept Parada in part to become a crowd favorite, as Parada did instantly. But after Parada committed four turnovers in four minutes in the Titans’ first game of the season, Sneed’s enthusiasm cooled. But Parada got into the second home game with one minute left, and didn’t enter the game against Tulsa until 31 seconds remained. . . . Wayne Williams had 11 assists, giving him an average of 10.5 a game. Williams also had three steals. . . . Cedric Ceballos had 12 rebounds and 21 points, marking his third double-double in four games.