Hill Regains His Touch, Helps Fullerton Shoot Down Utah State

From the middle of January until late this week, Mark Hill was a shooting guard without a shooting touch, which is not a pleasant thing to be.

Hill is a shooter and always has been. But for five games, most of his shots missed.

He shot from three-point range and made only five of 29. He shot standing still and he shot on the move. He shot off the dribble and he shot off the pass.

He shot the ball 77 times and made only 22, not quite 29%.

But Hill found his touch Saturday in Cal State Fullerton’s 88-77 victory over Utah State in a Big West Conference game in front of 2,700 in Titan Gym.

His first shot was a three-pointer and he drained it. His next was a 10-foot jumper. Easy basket. Then a three-pointer, then another.

By halftime he had taken five shots and made five shots--four of them three-pointers. Before he missed, he had made eight in a row. He finished with 22 points on eight of nine shots, the only miss coming from three-point range.

About the only shot he had any trouble with was from the free throw line, where he made two of six.

“Everything is coming around,” said Hill, who spent extra hours this week searching for his lost touch. “I felt bad not only for the team, but from my standpoint also.”

The worst game of Hill’s slump came in an overtime loss to UC Santa Barbara Monday, when he made one of 15 shots and scored a career-low six points.

“I’m going to be ready for them next time,” Hill said.

Hill’s slump began against San Jose State on Jan. 15 in San Jose.

In the Titans’ game against San Jose State in Titan Gym Thursday, he began to come out of his slump, making eight of 18 shots, most of them from close range.

“That’s how you’re supposed to start (breaking out of a slump),” Hill said. “Start in close.”

Hill was not the only Fullerton player hitting his shots Saturday. The Titans shot 68.2%, making 30 of 44 shots and nine of 13 three-pointers. Like Hill, the team struggled at the line, making 19 of 38 (50%).

Fullerton’s field-goal percentage tied the school record set in 1983, in a game against McNeese State that pitted Leon Wood against Joe Dumars.

“When they shoot the ball like that . . . “ Utah State Coach Kohn Smith said.

There’s just not much a team can do.

Utah State (11-11, 5-6 in conference) trailed by four at halftime, 47-43, after shooting 58.6% in the first half. But the Aggies didn’t score a field goal for the first eight minutes of the second half, and fell behind by as many as 17.

They were able to cut their deficit to six points with 9:30 left, to eight with 4:35 left and to eight again with one minute left, in part because of some poor decisions by the Titans.

With about three minutes remaining and the Titans trying to hold a nine-point lead, Wayne Williams tried a long jumper and missed. Shortly thereafter, after being instructed to take some time off the clock, the Titans quickly passed the ball in to Agee Ward, who tried a turnaround jumper with 33 seconds on the shot clock.

“That was the worst one,” Titan Coach John Sneed said. “The decision-making wasn’t good at times.”

As it turned out, those decisions didn’t hurt Fullerton, but they could have.

Fullerton (12-8, 6-5) also made only four of 10 free throws in the final 5:51, but Utah State couldn’t take advantage.

Cedric Ceballos, who has carried the Titans during Hill’s slump, scored 22 points, and Wayne Williams added 15.

Kendall Youngblood scored 15 for Utah State and Rich Jardine added 13.

The victory avenged an overtime loss to the Aggies in Logan, Utah, last month, and moved Fullerton into a tie with Cal State Long Beach for fourth place in the Big West.

But one of the most encouraging things for the team was to see Hill emerge from his slump.

“A shooter’s born to shoot, a rebounder’s born to rebound, a defender’s born to defend,” Sneed said. “He just had to shoot until he got out of it. . . . You didn’t see him moving the ball around in the air, even with pressure tonight. He had confidence in his shot.”

Hill, like a born shooter, said confidence was never the issue.

“I always have confidence,” he said. “It’s just technique, and I think I’ve got that back.”

Titan Notes

When Cedric Ceballos left Saturday’s game for the first time with 4:46 left in the first half, it ended a stretch of 105 minutes 14 seconds he had played without a rest over three games this week. Ceballos played every minute of the Titans’ overtime loss to Santa Barbara Monday and of their overtime victory over San Jose State Thursday. He played 36 minutes Saturday. . . . John Sykes, who has started seven games at center for Fullerton this season, was not on the bench after missing practice without an excuse Friday. Sykes has fallen out of the Titans’ plans of late after missing time with an eye infection and illness. Fullerton Coach John Sneed, who has been rather unconcerned by Sykes’ absence, said Sykes called him during the day Saturday. “He said he was kind of sick,” Sneed said. “I said I was kind of sorry.” . . . Gary Patterson, whom Utah State Coach Kohn Smith said required 12 stitches in his forehead after being head-butted by Chris Jeter during Thursday’s game against Nevada Las Vegas, did not play Saturday.