Small’s Shot Abandons Titans : College basketball: Guard goes four for 18 in Fullerton’s 88-83 loss to Fresno State.

It was hard to tell which was in worse shape Thursday night, Cal State Fullerton Coach John Sneed, who was suffering from several flu-like symptoms, or Titan guard Joe Small’s jump shot.

Sneed was feeling so poorly that he almost didn’t attend Fullerton’s game against Fresno State, and Small’s usually devastating jumper made only a token appearance in the Titans’ 88-83 Big West Conference loss before 9,714 in Selland Arena.

Sneed was hit Tuesday night by what Fullerton trainer Jerry Lloyd described as an intestinal flu. He was nauseated, he felt faint, he had the chills and some difficulty breathing, and appeared listless throughout the evening.

“I felt horrible,” said Sneed, who spent Thursday night in Fresno’s St. Agnes Hospital and said he might not accompany the team to Logan, Utah, where the Titans are scheduled to play Utah State Saturday night. “But once the game got going, I put it out of mind. At halftime, it hits you, and after the game, it hits you.”

So did Small’s statistical line, which read an un-Small-like four of 18 from the field, including two of nine three-pointers, and only 13 points. It was quite a contrast from Small’s Selland Arena performance last season, when he scored 32 points in the Titans’ 91-88 victory.

In the past three games against Fresno State, Nevada Las Vegas and Houston, Small has made 12 of 42 shots (28.6%).

Small has suffered on and off from the flu and colds for the past three weeks and missed a practice this week because of a stomach virus, but he refused to blame his problems on his health.

“I’m fine,” he said. “The shots just aren’t going down and I’m in a slump. Tonight, I made the mistake of not shooting at the end of the game. To get my stroke back, I’ve got to keep shooting. I started thinking about my shot tonight, and that’s when I start messing up my form.”

The Titans, who have lost four of their last five games and fell to 4-7, 0-2 in conference, weren’t exactly in peak form Thursday night. But they did show remarkable resiliency, coming back time after time from deficits in the five- to nine-point range.

The only problem with that was Fullerton spent so much energy digging itself out of holes, the Titans had little left by the end. But neither did Fresno State.

Fullerton trailed by nine, 71-62, with 7 minutes 32 seconds remaining but trimmed the deficit to 71-70 on Agee Ward’s jumper, Sean Williams’ three-point play and Small’s three-pointer with 6:06 left. The Bulldogs scored the next seven points, five by Wilbert Hooker, to push the lead to 77-70 with 4:18 to go.

Fresno State led, 84-76, with 1:10 left when the Bulldogs got extremely charitable. Turnovers on consecutive possessions led to J.D. Green’s two free throws and Kim Kemp’s jumper, which cut it to 84-80, and Pat Riddlesprigger’s errant pass gave the Titans possession with 39 seconds left.

But Green missed a three-point attempt with 28 seconds left, and Riddlesprigger and Hooker each made two foul shots in the final 25 seconds to seal Fresno State’s victory. The Bulldogs improved to 10-4, 1-1.

“We tried to give it away 10 times at the end of the game,” Fresno State Coach Gary Colson said. “I thought our free-throw shooting down the stretch was the difference.”

The Bulldogs made 21 of 24 foul shots in a game that saw several momentum shifts. There were nine ties and six lead changes.

“Everyone made their runs,” Titan point guard Aaron Sunderland said. “They had one, and we did. When we’d settle down, they’d pick up their intensity, and when they settled down, we’d pick up the intensity. Then they got that one late run, and that really hurt us.”

Hooker, a guard, led five Fresno State players in double figures with 25 points, including five of seven three-pointers, center Lee Mayberry added 14 points, and forwards Tod Bernard and Riddlesprigger and guard Carl Ray Harris each added 12.

Ward made nine of 13 shots, scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Sunderland added 15 points and eight assists, and Williams added 12 points for Fullerton.

The Titans, who committed only 12 turnovers against Houston and 10 against UNLV, didn’t help themselves with 18 turnovers Thursday, many of them of the unforced variety.

“The whole game came down to two things--unforced errors and our shooting,” Sneed said. “Most of our turnovers were created by us, and if Joe makes any of those shots in the first half (when he went one of 10), we’re in the game.”

Still, even with Small having an off-night, the Titans were in the game.

“I thought we played well enough to win,” Small said. “But my bad shooting offset what we were trying to do.”