Titans Reverse a Recent Tradition by Winning With Ease on the Road : Fullerton: An 84-60 victory over San Francisco is largest margin away from home in a year.

It was a strange sight: Coach John Sneed in a relaxed pose in the waning minutes of Cal State Fullerton’s 84-60 victory over the University of San Francisco Wednesday night at Memorial Gym.

Recent Fullerton basketball tradition dictates that when the Titans are on the road they lose.

Big margins and small--it hasn’t seemed to matter. Fullerton had lost seven consecutive road games coming into Wednesday night’s game against San Francisco.

The Titans (2-2) won only three games away from Titan Gym last season. Moreover, they hadn’t won a road game by such a wide margin since beating St. Mary’s, 85-65, Dec. 2, 1989. And that game was close until the Titans pulled away in the final minutes.

So there was Sneed, a bit of a smile on his face as the seconds ticked by, looking as if this happened all the time.

He even had a chance in the final two minutes to play seldom-used reserves Marcus Bell, Michael Bloodworth, who made a short jumper in the key, and walk-on Jason Kerian.

Later he would say “The No. 1 thing that comes to mind was that this was the best we’ve played on the road this year. We needed a win, not just a road win.”

USF (2-3) did all it could to ensure an easy Titan victory.

The Dons made 22 of 71 shots from the field (31%). They didn’t make a shot outside the key until Tim Owens’ 15-footer swished through three minutes into the second half. They also had 23 turnovers, 14 in the first half.

“Well, there’s not much to say,” USF Coach Jim Brovelli said. “We just got kicked pretty good. There’s no excuse. There’s a game tonight, you play.”

Titan forward Bruce Bowen, making his first start since he played at Fresno Edison High, said he knew the Dons had a reputation as a bad outside-shooting team.

“We knew they were sorry, but we still had to play hard,” he said. “We had a good scouting report on them.”

Bowen, a sophomore, was one of five Fullerton players who scored in double figures. He had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Guard Joe Small and reserve forward Ron Caldwell led the Titans with 16 points apiece. Aaron Wilhite added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Agee Ward had 10 points off the bench.

Owens was about the only bright spot for USF, scoring 24 points. And he made just seven of 17 from the field.

“Somebody’s got to score,” Brovelli said. “It’s not like we didn’t get good shots.”

He was right. USF tried to force the ball inside to Owens, Darryl Johnson and John Glavan almost every trip down the court.

But the Dons ended up missing so many of those close (read: easy) shots.

“They came into the game shooting 39%, so it wasn’t us,” Sneed said.

Fullerton broke the game open, pushing a 27-21 lead with 5:17 left in the half to 39-25 by halftime.

USF made a run early in the second half, but could get no closer than 46-35 after a basket by Orlando Smart with 15:19 left.

Caldwell made a three-point basket at the other end and Fullerton pulled steadily away.

Late in the game, the Titans led by as many as 28 points.

Titan Notes

Bruce Bowen on his first start as a Titan: “I hadn’t started a game since high school, so it felt real good. I usually come off the bench fired up to play. With me starting, maybe that style rubs off on the other guys.” . . . Fullerton next plays at Pepperdine at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Titans then play four consecutive home games before opening Big West Conference play Jan. 2 at Fresno State.