Titans Get Well Enough to Beat Portland, 91-84

Cal State Fullerton basketball Coach John Sneed hasn’t been feeling well all week, and 16 minutes into Thursday night’s game against the University of Portland, he had to be getting sicker.

The Titans, besieged by the flu, were playing like they felt--miserably--and were trailing a poor Pilot team by 13 points.

Sneed called time out, gave his players a short speech about pride and character, and Fullerton showed it has some of both, rebounding for a 91-84 victory before 1,220 in Titan Gym.

Sophomore forward Bruce Bowen, one of the few semi-healthy Titans, scored a career-high 21 points, including 14 of Fullerton’s last 24, to help the Titans (5-2) win their fifth consecutive game. Portland is 1-7.

Junior guard Joe Small added 18 points but only three in the second half, and senior forward Ron Caldwell added 16 points, including a key follow shot with 43 seconds remaining that gave Fullerton an 85-81 lead.

Because six of Fullerton’s top eight players were suffering from flu this week, the Titans took Monday off and only practiced an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“That’s not healthy for a ballclub,” Sneed said. “When you lay off that long, it affects you offensively, and I think you saw that tonight. Our shots were off, our timing was off, we were never in sync. But I’m proud of the way our kids came back.”