Sneed Pulls Starters in Titan Loss

John Sneed turned on his heel and walked down the bench, picking out one player after another.

He didn’t like what he saw on the court, where Cal State Fullerton was trailing Pacific by two points in the second half Saturday, and the coach sent in the substitutes.

By the time he sent the starters back in 2 1/2 minutes later, Fullerton trailed by six and the Titans never recovered, finishing with a 78-73 loss in the Spanos Center.

“For whatever reason, we were flat,” Sneed said. “I was upset with our play at both ends of the floor. I thought it would be good if I got them out for a second so they could see the view from my seat.”

With the starters sitting, Fullerton (12-10, 6-7 in the Big West Conference) had a lineup on the floor that was averaging a collective 12.7 points.

“The bottom line was they weren’t much better either,” Sneed said.

The loss was the Titans’ second on the road in three days, both against teams below them in the conference standings.

But losing on the road is nothing unusual for Fullerton. The Titans are 3-10 on the road, 1-7 against conference opponents, with the only victory over Cal State Long Beach.

Cedric Ceballos, averaging 23 points, scored only 15 on five-of-17 shooting. Mark Hill, averaging 20 points, scored 18, but was on the bench during much of the second half with three fouls. Wayne Williams scored 17, but many of his points came in the desperate last minutes as the Titans tried to overcome an 11-point deficit.

At home in Titan Gym, the Titans are averaging 85 points a game. On the road, 69. At home, they are shooting 50% from the field. On the road, 41%.

Anthony Woods and Dell Demps scored 16 points for Pacific (13-9, 6-7). Woods made eight consecutive free throws in the final 1:26.