Criticism Sparks the Titans

Cal State Fullerton point guard Aaron Sunderland awoke to some harsh press Friday when he read Coach John Sneed’s comments in the morning papers following the Titans’ loss to UC Santa Barbara.

“The poorest job I’ve seen of a point guard quarterbacking our offense in a long time,” was just one of Sneed’s criticisms directed at Sunderland.

Sunderland felt the press zeroing in on him again Saturday night, but this was a press of another kind, a rush of Fullerton fans swarming him, chanting his name, “Aaron! Aaron!”

Moments earlier, Sunderland had driven almost the entire length of the court, pulled up in the lane and sank a 10-footer with three seconds left in overtime to give the Titans a 78-77 victory over Cal State Long Beach in Titan Gym.

The 49ers, amazingly, had an excellent chance to win after calling timeout with one second remaining. Long Beach forward Bryon Russell threw an inbounds pass from under the Titan basket to Lucious Harris, who caught the ball on the left baseline about 14 feet from the basket.

Harris turned for the shot but was blocked by Fullerton forward Bruce Bowen at the buzzer. A jump ball was called with no time left, the Titans held on for the victory, and Sunderland was mobbed by the fans.

“I sat down (Friday) and thought about what I did wrong Thursday,” said Sunderland, who made nine of 12 shots, nine of nine free throws and had seven assists Saturday night. “I wasn’t the point guard he (Sneed) recruited. I came with the attitude that I had to run the team tonight, and if the shots were there, take them. They just happened to fall.”

The last one to fall wasn’t his only big basket of the night. Sunderland, who finished with a game-high 27 points, also sent the game into overtime with a 10-foot jumper with 12 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 71.

Long Beach (11-6, 5-3 conference) scored first in the overtime, but Joe Small’s jumper, Sean Williams’ free throw and Bowen’s driving basket gave the Titans (6-9, 2-4) a 76-73 lead with 1:46 left.

Forty-niner center Chris Tower, a former Westminster High School standout who scored 18 points, was credited with a basket when Williams was called for goaltending with 1:23 remaining. Then Long Beach took a 77-76 lead with 11 seconds left when Harris made two free throws.

But Sunderland’s clutch play saved the day for Fullerton.

“Big-time players respond to things,” Sunderland said. “I know I did a poor job Thursday night, but I came out and played like a big-time player tonight.”

Fullerton may not be a big-time team, but the Titans, called “selfish and stubborn” by Sneed Thursday, did respond to the criticism positively.

Throughout the game they seemed more intense and more emotional. They dived on the floor for loose balls and attacked the basket offensively.

When Long Beach’s Harris went to the line with 8:02 left in the half, Titan forward Agee Ward, normally a reserved type, waved his arms, exhorting the crowd to make some noise.

Clearly, this was a different Titan group than the one that lost to Santa Barbara, 64-58, Thursday.

“They responded to my talk from the other night,” Sneed said. “I touched on their pride and desire, which were key tonight. Not only did we execute plays we designed, we scored off them. And that was the best we’ve played in crunch time. I hope it’s a sign of better things to come.”

Good things came for the Titans for much of the game until the 12:35 mark of the second half, when Long Beach went on an 8-0 run to turn a 50-43 deficit into a 51-50 lead with 10:20 left. The lead changed hands eight more times by the end of regulation.

The 49ers, who shot only 37.9% from the field and made 25 of 34 free throws, had several excellent scoring chances but blew many easy shot attempts, especially in the second half.

On one possession, Bobby Sears stole an inbounds pass and passed to Rod Hannibal on the break. Hannibal missed a layup, Tower missed a follow shot, Williams grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Williams made two free throws to cut Long Beach’s lead to 57-56 with 7:14 left.

Moments later, Jeff Rogers stole the ball from Williams and started a break. He passed to Tower, who missed a layup, Russell missed a tip attempt, Sunderland pulled down the rebound and was fouled. His two free throws gave Fullerton a 60-57 lead with 5:44 left.

“We did enough things tonight to get us in a position to win the ballgame,” 49er Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We just missed too many layups and free throws.”

Williams added 19 points and Ward had 16 before fouling out with 2:11 left in regulation. Harris had 18 points and Hannibal added 14 for the 49ers.

Long Beach had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Russell missed from the right corner and Harris missed a fall-away jumper from the left corner. Then, the 49ers nearly pulled out a miracle at the end of overtime.

“Great spectator sport, eh?” Sneed said.