Titans’ Foul Trouble Results in Another Loss : Basketball: Sunderland picks up fourth personal in first half. Fullerton winds up losing to Utah State, 89-72.

Cal State Fullerton assistant coach Leon Wood stood on the sideline Saturday night in the Spectrum as the Titans warmed up for their game against Utah State. “Unbelievable,” he said, incredulous that Fullerton had not won a game in Logan since the 1981-82 season, when Wood was a Titan sophomore.

Fullerton’s fate swung on the foul trouble of a point guard of a different generation Saturday in an 89-72 Big West Conference loss to the Aggies in front of 7,556. It was the Titans’ 10th consecutive defeat in Logan, and their fourth loss in a row this season.

When Aaron Sunderland picked up his fourth foul with 7 minutes 20 seconds still to play in the first half, Fullerton’s doom was cast. With the Titans half-crippled by the loss, Utah State bolted ahead by as many as 17 in the first half, and held a 13-point halftime lead.

Sunderland’s foul trouble was a development Fullerton had long dreaded, knowing it has no dependable backup at the point. Inexperienced junior Brian Wood, who had played 10 minutes all season, logged 18 Saturday. Joe Small can move from shooting guard, but he is less free to shoot.

When Sunderland was whistled for his fourth foul Saturday, called for blocking on a risky attempt to take a charge on a breakaway by Malloy Nesmith, the Aggies’ bold, darting point guard, Fullerton was done for.

“Our game plan was aborted,” Coach John Sneed said. “The way we played the last 30 minutes of the ball game wasn’t what we intended to do, because our game plan was scrapped early by foul problems.”

Greg Vernon, Small’s backup, also had four fouls before halftime, further limiting the possibility of moving Small to Sunderland’s spot.

Fullerton was hurt offensively and defensively, and Sneed ran out of options.

“It’s the first time Aaron’s been in foul trouble,” Sneed said. “Everyone who plays the game is going to get in foul trouble sometime.”

Utah State (8-3, 2-1) won its sixth game in a row, relying on its balanced and potent offense. Carlito DaSilva, a power forward with an outside touch, scored 22 points. Nesmith added 17 points and six assists, and Kendall Youngblood scored 16.

Small, emerging somewhat from a slump, made six of 15 shots, including two three-pointers, for 19 points and seven assists. Sean Williams, the Titan center, scored a career-high 19 points and also had 10 rebounds. Agee Ward, slowed by a thigh bruise sustained Thursday in a loss to Fresno State, scored 12 points, eight below his average.

Until Saturday, Sunderland had walked the line and avoided foul trouble all season.

But against Nesmith, he found it.

“That’s something that hasn’t ever happened to me,” Sunderland said. “After I got that fourth foul, that’s all I could do was just go to the bench.”

The score was tied, 15-15, when Sunderland sat down quickly after being whistled for his third foul, a charge in the lane with 14:49 still to play in the first half. Without him, Fullerton’s fears came to pass. Fullerton’s offense became stagnant and its running game disappeared. Utah State, feeding on turnovers, revved up its running game.

With the game veering out of the Titans’ reach, Coach John Sneed sent Sunderland back in with 11:57 left in the first half, and Fullerton trailing by five and fading.

“You have to make that decision,” Sneed said.

Sunderland, startled, returned to the court.

“I was kind of surprised, but I could see they needed me,” he said.

With Sneed trying to protect him by switching to a zone, Sunderland still picked up his fourth. Sneed declined to criticize the play, saying he thought Sunderland was set to draw the charge. The Aggie lead was 11 when he left, and three-pointers by Utah State’s Todd Gentry and Kendall Youngblood helped push it to 17.

Fullerton rallied a bit in the second half, cutting the lead to 10 with about 13 minutes left, and had two possessions with an opportunity to cut it to eight. The Titans got four shots.

“None of ‘em fell,” Sneed said.

By game’s end, Sneed called a timeout with time dwindling just to get in Chauncey Woolridge, who had played only a minute all season. He stopped the clock, then waved off the huddle, letting play continue.

“Some of my subs had to play so long they were tired,” Sneed said, cracking a smile.

Fullerton has opened conference play 0-3, but Sneed isn’t despairing.

“I think a lot of teams in the league will lose at Fresno State and at Utah State,” he said. “And I think they will go home and not overreact and not make a lot of changes.”

Notes

Titan Coach John Sneed, who spent three hours in a Fresno hospital after Thursday’s game for treatment of a gastro-intestinal disorder and dehydration, was still ill Saturday. “In some ways I feel better, but it’s got me in new ways,” he said, adding that he thinks he is dehydrating again and plans to go to a hospital on returning to Orange County. . . . Joe Small missed a free throw Saturday--notable because it was only his third miss off the season. Small, ranked sixth in the nation in free-throw shooting through last weekend, broke a string of 32 consecutive made free throws with a first half miss. He has missed only three of 41 this season. Next: UC Irvine, at 7:30 Saturday in the Bren Center.