Cal State Fullerton Hits a Low for the Road

The road has been brutal to Cal State Fullerton this season. Pauley Pavilion and the Thomas and Mack Center have taken their measure of the Titans, and they have found them wanting.

Fullerton has lost on the road to UCLA and Nevada Las Vegas. The Titans can accept that.

They have been beaten by Colorado State in a gym named after a whale, Moby Arena. They have lost to Wyoming in the isolated town of Casper, and to Utah State in snowy Logan, Utah.

They can accept all those. But they never thought they would see the day that they would lose in a place still looking for someone to be named after, a new arena called the Student Union Recreation and Events Center. A crowd of 2,126 there rattled the Titans into a 66-60 loss to San Jose State on Monday.

Yes, the same San Jose State that started a program almost from scratch this season after the player walkout against Coach Bill Berry last season. Yes, the team that had lost 21 games in a row before beating Texas Christian in the fourth game this season.

Yes, the Titans said, this one was humiliating.

“This is the biggest,” said Wayne Williams, Fullerton’s point guard. “I never expected to lose to San Jose State.”

At the beginning of this season, with four starters back from a 16-13 team, the Titans had other expectations.

“In the beginning, I had hopes of going to the NCAAs,” Williams said. “But the way things are going now, I don’t know.”

Fullerton, 8-6 overall and 2-3 in the Big West Conference, is 2-6 on the road.

San Jose State, with a record of 5-9 and 2-3 in conference play, already has matched its victory total of last season, when it finished 5-23.

In the company of victories over Texas Christian, Santa Clara, Idaho State and UC Irvine, this may rank as the biggest victory since the walkout.

But who is quibbling?

“Every win for the Spartans is a big win,” Coach Stan Morrison said.

Cedric Ceballos led Fullerton with 24 points.