Fullerton’s Road Woes Grow : College basketball: Titans have no answers after a humiliating 66-60 loss at San Jose State.

The road has been brutal to Cal State Fullerton this season.

Losses on the road to UCLA and Nevada Las Vegas are forgiveable lapses, but there are others.

The Titans 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.

The Titans can accept all of them. But they never thought they would see the day they would lose in a place still looking for a donor for whom to be named. In a spanking new arena, awkwardly known as the Student Union Recreation and Events Center, a gathering of 2,126 fans rattled the Titans into a 66-60 loss to San Jose State Monday.

Yes, the same San Jose State that started a program almost from scratch this season after the disastrous player walkout against Coach Bill Berry last season. Yes, the team that had lost 21 consecutive games 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 the 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.”

With a 2-6 road record and an undefeated record at home, Fullerton is 8-6, 2-3 in the Big West Conference, tied for sixth place with the Spartans.

San Jose State, 5-9 overall, 2-3 in conference, 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 might 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.

San Jose State led early but fell behind at halftime, 36-29. Fullerton had hit 58% of its shots and gone ahead largely because of Cedric Ceballos’ 15 first-half points, and Williams’ nine.

But in the second half, behind the scrambling play of Troy Batiste and the inside maneuvering of Kenne Young, San Jose State opened a nine-point lead.

“We were definitely outhustled the second half,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said.

Fullerton shot 48%, making only eight of 22 in the second half. The Spartans had their best shooting performance of the season, shooting 51%.

Fullerton had no explanations.

“We play with a lot of frustration on the road, and I cannot pinpoint any one thing,” Sneed said. “We play frustrated, and not with much poise.”

San Jose State threw a press on the usually unflappable Titans, and came away with a bundle of turnovers.

“I thought at times it felt like a football game, and we weren’t getting across the 50-yard line,” Sneed said. “They’d get a turnover, a steal, a foul.”

San Jose State’s nine-point lead still stood, 63-54, with 3:29 left.

After a timeout, Fullerton switched to a man defense and scored six points in a row, including a breakaway dunk by Ceballos, cutting the lead to 63-60.

Fullerton sent Andre Brooks to the line, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:22 left.

Fullerton came down, but Mark Hill’s open 14-footer missed.

On the other end, Batiste drove for a layup and missed, but he rebounded and was fouled by John Sykes. He made the first and missed the second, giving Fullerton, down by four, the ball with 30 seconds left.

After a timeout, Fullerton tried to go inside to Ceballos, who led the Titans with 24 points. But the Spartans collapsed on him and stripped away the ball.

Before any Titan caught up to a Spartan to foul, Daryl Scott had hit a two-footer at the other end, and was fouled on the play by Hill. Scott missed the free throw with 11 seconds left, but Fullerton couldn’t score again. Williams, who beat Pacific with a 32-footer Saturday, tried a long three-pointer but missed, and San Jose State ran out the clock.

Titan Notes

Wayne Williams and Cedric Ceballos both complained about not pressing in the second half Monday. “We should have pressed,” Williams said. “I also felt we should have gone to man.” Ceballos echoed Williams’ sentiments about the press, which the Titans used with some success in the early going. “We should keep doing what got us the lead,” Ceballos said. . . . Forward Van Anderson and center David Moody started for the third consecutive game. . . . Tom Parada, the 5-foot-6 freshman walk-on, made his first trip, replacing Ron Caldwell, who has been suspended indefinitely for disciplinary reasons.