Ceballos Does It All, but It Isn’t Enough as Titans Lose

Cedric Ceballos drove the baseline and made silky-sweet lay-ins.

He hit the boards, and outdid the nation’s leading rebounder, Eric McArthur.

He made good on three-point plays, and he even led the Cal State Fullerton fast break, end to end.

But he couldn’t lead the Titans to victory Thursday. They lost to UC Santa Barbara, 75-70, in Titan Gym despite his 27-point, 21-rebound performance.

The loss, the Titans’ first at home in 10 games this season, broke a 13-game home winning streak.

Santa Barbara, mindful of what can happen when a team misses its free throws, clamped down on a seven-point lead with 3 minutes 33 seconds to play and didn’t let go, making 12 of 13 free throws down the stretch.

Last month, the Gauchos came back from 11 points down with 2:20 remaining against Fullerton to win in overtime.

Fullerton folded in that game, missing six free throws in a row down the stretch and in overtime. Santa Barbara outscored them, 21-2, and walked away with an eight-point overtime victory.

The Gauchos didn’t give Fullerton a chance to return the favor.

“We had good execution down to the wire tonight,” UC Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said.

Santa Barbara (17-6, 10-4) came into Thursday’s game having won eight of its past 10 games, with the only losses to Nevada Las Vegas and New Mexico State, both by two points.

Led by Ceballos, Fullerton looked as if it might give Santa Barbara trouble again. The Titans had a 41-38 lead in the second half after consecutive fast breaks led by Ceballos, who rebounded and then took control of the break himself, finishing one with a three-point play and dishing to Wayne Williams, who hit Dareck Crane for an open jumper on the other.

“Amazing,” Pimm said. “Ceballos is one of the best if not the best in the conference. He plays so well on the backboards. We had two guys blocking him out on some plays and he still got the rebound.”

But Santa Barbara’s Carrick DeHart came back and settled things, hitting three three-point baskets in less than three minutes to pull the Gauchos ahead by 51-43 with nine minutes left.

Fullerton tried to come back, and narrowed the lead to three-points twice in the final minute, but couldn’t get closer.

DeHart finished with 20 points, and McArthur had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Gary Gray’s 25-point performance, a career high, was the key for Santa Barbara.

Gray, who was averaging 12 points, took advantage of lax interior defense and Fullerton foul trouble inside.

Fullerton’s Mark Hill, who had played the worst game of his career against Santa Barbara last month, did worse than that this time, going one for 11 and scoring a career-low three points.

He scored six on one of 15 shooting in the first game.

“Mark Hill had two bad games against UCSB this year,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said. “They were in his face the whole time.”

Agee Ward added 14 for Fullerton (12-11, 6-8), and Wayne Williams scored 11.

Titan Notes

Keith Starr, who resigned his position as a Cal State Fullerton assistant coach last week, was at Thursday’s game. He called the decision to resign “mutual,” saying he planned to leave at the end of the season anyway. “I think they wanted to bring someone else in on the recruiting,” Starr said. Fullerton sources said Starr did not enjoy recruiting and Coach John Sneed was not pleased with his efforts. . . . Fullerton point guard Wayne Williams did not start because he was arrived late for pregame meetings, but entered the game after four minutes, replacing senior Marlon Vaughn.