Fullerton Goes Flat, Falls to Fresno St. : College basketball: Titans go 6:50 in second half without scoring to lose to the Bulldogs, 73-65.

Selland Arena is a place that can make John Sneed puff extra hard on his pregame cigarette, an arena where teams who enter with plans to win often leave downtrodden.

Fresno State has fallen on hard times since Boyd Grant’s last season as coach in 1986, but a measure of the Bulldogs’ former dominance remains at home in Selland, where Cal State Fullerton suffered a 73-65 loss Thursday after going stone cold in the final 10 minutes.

The Titans went without a basket for 6 minutes and 50 seconds, and scored only four more points after Agee Ward’s two free throws gave Fullerton a four-point lead with 9:54 remaining.

“I thought we were in pretty good shape, and then all of a sudden we went flat,” said Sneed, whose team lost by 21 points here last year in his first season as coach.

Coach Ron Adams’ teams have won only 42 games in his four seasons at Fresno State, and 34 of those victories have been in Selland. His hold on the job remains tenuous; the Bulldogs have won only nine of 20 games this season, and the victory over Fullerton was their first over an opponent ahead of them in the Big West Conference standings, in which they are eighth.

Fullerton (12-9 overall, 6-6 in conference play) beat Fresno State by eight points in Titan Gym last month in a game it once led by 25 points. But the Bulldogs were a tougher team in Selland Arena.

“Defensively, they’re much better at home than on the road,” Sneed said. “Maybe the crowd gets them going. They play much more up-tempo at home too, and they attack the press more.”

Fresno State (9-11, 4-7) held a 32-30 lead at halftime behind the three-point shooting of Tod Bernard, who finished with 18 points and two three-pointers, and Dave Barnett, who scored 13, including three of three from three-point range.

Cedric Ceballos scored 22 for Fullerton, Mark Hill added 18 and Ward scored 13, including nine of 11 free throws.

Fullerton pulled ahead by as many as six points with 13 minutes left. Ward, fouled by Chris Henderson, made two free throws, and then Hill made a technical free throw after Henderson was charged for excessive arguing. On the possession after the technical, Hill knocked down a three-pointer, and Fullerton led, 57-51.

Fresno came back, taking advantage of Fullerton’s cold shooting and a spate of turnovers. The Titans finished with 18 turnovers, 10 in the second half, a high number for a game of this tempo.

Much of Fullerton’s trouble was caused by Fresno’s defense, which changed back and forth from zone to man. “Their spread zone took us completely out of our offense,” Sneed said. “We’d call a timeout to adjust and they’d go back to man.”

The defense was unsettling, and it was by design.

“The changing defenses really seemed to bother them,” Adams said. “Fullerton is a veteran team, and you have to find a way to keep them off balance, a way to break the rhythm of their man offense.”

As Fresno State came back, Bernard tied the score, 61-61, with an off-balance jumper, and then Pat Riddlesprigger gave Fresno State the lead with a bucket off the fast break, sending the crowd of 9,733 into a frenzy.

Fullerton trailed by two with three minutes left, but played poorly down the stretch.

When Barnett hit a three-point shot with 1:34 left, the Bulldogs took a five-point lead, and Fullerton folded.

“We didn’t make very many smart plays when it was within reach,” Sneed said.

Sneed would have preferred a timeout after the Bulldog three-pointer. Instead, several seconds later, Ward fouled Riddlesprigger on the dribble, and Riddlesprigger made both free throws for a seven-point lead with 56 seconds left.

With time under a minute, Fullerton failed to foul quickly, finally leaving Carlo Williams wide open for a dunk underneath that made the lead nine with 34 seconds left.

David Moody scored for Fullerton with 20 seconds left, and then Wilbert Hooker, fouled by the Titans’ Van Anderson, made one of two free throws with 18 seconds left, making it 73-65.

By then, Sneed was already leaning back in his chair, resigned.

“It’s hindsight now, but this was an important win we really needed,” he said.

After a victory over Utah State Saturday in Titan Gym, Sneed had reassessed the season with what was then eight games remaining, including a first-round Big West tournament game. Fullerton had 12 victories, and Sneed set the team’s sights on finishing with 17, one more than last year’s 16-13 team.

In that scenario, the Titans felt they needed a split on this Fresno-Stockton road trip, which now puts the pressure on to beat Pacific Saturday.

“Seventeen is still realistic, but now the next game is very important,” Sneed said.

Fullerton’s other remaining regular season games are against UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico State and Cal State Long Beach at home, followed by a game at UC Irvine, and the season-ender at home against Neveda Las Vegas March 3.