Fullerton Ends Up on Short End : Titans: Hill misses three-point shot with two seconds left, enabling New Mexico State to win, 65-62.

So many times, Cal State Fullerton has been a three-point shot away from a victory or an overtime. And it happened again Saturday night.

With the Titans trailing by three points to New Mexico State, a team that has lost only three games and is ranked 25th by the Associated Press, Mark Hill got the ball on the right side. He got rid of a defender by throwing a fake and let go with a shot that bounded off the rim with two seconds left, leaving New Mexico State with a 65-62 victory in front of 2,717 at Titan Gym.

“That was a white-knuckler, wasn’t it?” said New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy.

Wayne Williams, Fullerton’s starting point guard who is known for hitting desperation three-point shots, watched the final seconds from the bench.

Williams has twice won games with three-point shots, including an overtime victory against Nevada Las Vegas last season.

However, instead of Williams, Fullerton Coach John Sneed chose to go with backup Marlon Vaughn, who played seven minutes in relief of Williams.

Williams stood at the end of the bench during the Titans’ final timeout, far from the huddle.

“I don’t have any comment tonight,” he said after the game. “Anything I said now would be bad.”

The Titans’ final play was designed for Hill or for Dareck Crane.

“We wanted to stack it and bring one jump shooter off to the right and one off to the left,” Sneed said.

It was Hill who got the ball.

“I thought it was a good shot,” he said.

Hill is the Titans’ best three-point shooter, but he has been off recently, making only one of 11 shots from the field against UC Santa Barbara Thursday and making six of 15 shots against the Aggies.

Sneed said he chose to go with Crane and Vaughn, who he said helped bring the Titans back.

“Someone who brings you back like that deserves to stay in the game,” he said.

As for Williams, who is shooting 34% from the field but has a record of hitting winning shots, Sneed said: “When there’s that much time on the clock, you’ve got to have a couple of passes. You don’t want one guy to launch it.”

The Aggies were led by Keith Hill, who had 14 points, and James Anderson, who had 12.

They won despite making only 16 of 29 (55%) from the free throw line.

Fullerton did even worse, making eight of 17 (47%).

Cedric Ceballos scored 16 for Fullerton.

“We didn’t make our free throws, but I thought our defense kept them from scoring,” McCarthy said. “A lot of our offense ended up coming out of the defense. I thought the kids did a great job of just competing.”

Fullerton, 12-12 and 6-9 in the Big West Conference, trailed by as many as nine points in the second half, but took the lead with five minutes left on Crane’s six-foot jump shot off a long pass from Vaughn.

Although the New Mexico State missed seven of 12 free throws down the stretch, Fullerton never regained the lead in the final four minutes.

The victory could be worth $10,000 to McCarthy, whose contract includes a provision for bonuses for each victory over 19. His team is 21-3, 12-2 in the conference.

McCarthy, in his fifth season with the Aggies, said the contract stipulates that he will only collect after six years at the school.