Titans Miss Their Shot at an Upset : College basketball: While Fullerton’s prayer draws nothing but air, New Mexico State puts its in the bank to win, 69-67.

The 1,824 fans in Titan Gym Tuesday night went home grumbling about two shots--two prayers, really--one that was answered for New Mexico State and one that was questionable for Cal State Fullerton.

The second of those shots, and the Titans’ last field-goal attempt of the game, was forward Bruce Bowen’s 22-foot air ball with two seconds remaining, which allowed the Aggies to hold on for a 69-67 Big West Conference victory.

Bowen’s shot from the top of the key certainly wasn’t what Fullerton Coach John Sneed had in mind. Trailing by two with 16 seconds left, Sneed hoped point guard Aaron Sunderland could drive the lane and pull up for a jumper or pass out to a wing player for a shot.

But New Mexico State (14-3, 6-2 in conference) stopped Sunderland, and Sunderland passed to Bowen on the left side. Bowen dribbled toward the middle but also found no room to drive.

With time running out, Bowen launched a shot that sailed under the rim and out of bounds, taking the edge off a solid Fullerton team effort and Bowen’s 22-point performance, which was one of his better offensive games this season.

“I wanted to penetrate, but Aaron’s man jumped out on me,” Bowen said. “I had to put up a shot because there were only so many seconds left, but it didn’t feel that strong when it left my hands. I flat-out shot an air ball.”

The first of those prayers, Aggie point guard Sam Crawford’s off-balance three-pointer with 2 minutes 21 seconds to go, flat-out stunned the Titans--and Crawford, too.

With the 45-second shot clock nearly expired, Crawford tossed up a shot from the left wing that banked into the basket to give New Mexico State a 67-63 lead.

“He called it,” Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy dead-panned. “He ran down the court yelling, ‘Bank shot!’ ”

Not quite.

“The whole thing was to try to get it on the rim and give us a chance for a rebound,” Crawford said. “That was so lucky, did you believe that? But that’s the way things go when you keep working, keep pushing.”

Fullerton (7-11, 3-6), which led by eight midway through the second half, recovered from the shock and pulled to within two, 69-67, on Bowen’s follow shot with 58 seconds left. The Titans then got a huge break when Crawford lost the handle on his dribble and the ball went out of bounds for a turnover with 34 seconds to go.

Crawford fouled Sunderland with 17 seconds left, but the Titan point guard missed the front end of the one-and-one. Fullerton forward Agee Ward forced a jump ball on the rebound, though, and the possession arrow favored the Titans. But Bowen’s last shot fell short, and Fullerton fell back into a seventh-place tie with Pacific in the Big West. New Mexico State is in third place, a half-game behind UC Santa Barbara.

“People have been hitting strange three-pointers against us all year long, wild threes with hands in their faces,” Sneed said of Crawford’s shot. “But I thought we played pretty well. This was a tough one to lose.”

The Aggies got off to a very slow start, missing their first five shots and falling behind, 8-0, before Crawford scored New Mexico State’s first points with a three-pointer at the 14:45 mark of the first half.

But the Aggies eventually found success pushing the ball inside in their half-court offense and running enough to pick up several fast-break baskets.

Four New Mexico State players finished in double figures, led by forward Cliff Reed, who had 14 points and eight rebounds. Eric Traylor and Benjamin each had 11 points, and Crawford, who leads the nation in assists (8.9 a game), had 10 points and 10 assists.

Joe Small added 16 points, Agee Ward had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Sunderland had nine points and 13 assists for the Titans, who attempted only six free throws in the game, making five.