Titans Laugh All the Way to Victory Over Gauchos

The game was a laugher, but that was nothing compared to Marcus Bell’s hilarious blunder with 1 minute 30 seconds remaining in Cal State Fullerton’s 76-61 Big West Conference victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday night.

Bell, a freshman who had played only 14 minutes this season, checked in with a few other Titan scrubs, pulled his warmup jacket off and didn’t even realize he had his game jersey on backward.

Fullerton sports information director Mel Franks was quick to catch the garb gaffe, and Bell turned the shirt around before most of the 2,223 fans in Titan Gym noticed, saving him much embarrassment.

But enough of his teammates noticed and gave him a good razzing.

“That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” Titan point guard Wayne Williams said. “All I could do is laugh.”

Added forward Bruce Bowen: “Man, I’ve been a freshman before, but I’ve never put my uniform on backwards. The worst thing I did was miss a bus.”

Fullerton Coach John Sneed didn’t notice the mistake until some players pointed it out.

“Maybe he’s been doing that all year and didn’t know it,” Sneed said.

Sneed was glad Bell had a chance to find out. For the first time since an 86-66 victory over Division II Chapman College on Dec. 22, Sneed was able to relax at the end of a game and play most of his reserves, including Bell and even more seldom-used sub, Tom Parada, a walk-on who had played all of two minutes before Saturday night.

Sneed questioned the efforts of several players after Thursday night’s 96-92 loss to UC Irvine, but Saturday night he couldn’t find much fault in the Titans.

Five Fullerton players scored in double figures, led by Joe Small’s 17 points, Agee Ward’s 14 points and 12 rebounds, and 13 each by Aaron Wilhite and J.D. Green. Bowen added 10 points.

The Titans took only 38 shots in the game but made 23 for a season-high 61%, outshooting an opponent for the first time in nine games. Santa Barbara shot 38% (24 of 62) from the floor.

Fullerton, which looked sluggish at times against Irvine, played consistently tenacious defense Saturday and limited Gaucho center Gary Gray to six points. Gray scored 17 in Santa Barbara’s 76-55 victory over Fullerton on Jan. 24.

“We defended the post much better than we did against them the first game,” Sneed said. “Our concentration on defense was a big factor. We didn’t relax away from the ball.”

The Gauchos, who trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, had pulled to within three, 47-44, with 11:25 remaining on Idris Jones’ three-pointer, but the Titans reeled off nine consecutive points, including five by reserve freshman guard Greg Vernon, to take a 56-44 lead with 8:53 left.

Santa Barbara, which was led by Jones’ 19 points and Lucius Davis’ 16, never threatened the rest of the way.

“They were better on both ends of the court, they executed well, and they got good shots,” Gaucho Coach Jerry Pimm said. “They obviously wanted this game more than we did. They did a complete job on us.”

Fullerton improved to 14-12, 7-10 in conference, and clinched a spot in the conference tournament. They jumped from eighth place in the standings to fifth, a half game ahead of Santa Barbara (11-14, 6-10), Fresno State (6-10) and Long Beach (6-10), but Fullerton closes the season Saturday against Nevada Las Vegas.

Instead of intensifying efforts to beat the top-ranked Runnin’ Rebels, Sneed said he will give his players a few days off this week to recover from various nagging injuries.

With a half game separating the fifth- through eighth-place teams in the conference, Fullerton’s tournament seeding won’t be determined until the regular season is over.