Williams Is a Changed Man as Titans Beat UCI : Basketball: Junior, who hadn’t contributed too much early in the season, scores career-high 20 points in 86-68 victory.

For the first month of the season, Sean Williams was a rather large decoy in the Cal State Fullerton offense.

The 6-foot-10 junior would look good posting up defenders. He’d get good position and looked great calling for the ball--that right hand high in the air, nasty scowl on his face. You could tell he really wanted the ball.

Trouble was, his teammates rarely passed it to him. Long-armed and gangly, Williams had this awkward jump hook that rarely found the basket, and about the only shot he could be counted on to make was the dunk, which he does quite well.

But all that has changed. Once an offensive facade, Williams is developing into an offensive force, as his performance in Fullerton’s 86-68 Big West Conference victory over UC Irvine Saturday night will attest.

Williams, taking advantage of the Anteaters’ small front line, scored a career-high 20 points, pulled down nine rebounds and blocked four shots in front of 2,315 in Titan Gym.

Bruce Bowen added 20 points and five steals, and Agee Ward, despite suffering from the flu, had 19 points for Fullerton, which has won three straight, five of its past seven and improved to 10-11, 6-6 in conference. Irvine, which entered with a two-game winning streak, fell to 5-17, 2-11.

Williams, going against Irvine’s 6-6 Khari Johnson much of the night, made seven of 12 field-goal attempts. Three of his baskets came on follow shots and two on dunks.

It took Williams 11 games to reach double figures this season, but he has now scored 10 or more points in eight of his past nine games and has two 19-point games to go with Saturday night’s 20.

“You’ve got to prove you’re capable,” Bowen said. “Early in the year, it was all Agee, Agee, Agee. Sean was a newcomer, and you tend to overlook the new guy sometimes. But he started making good plays, and other teams couldn’t stop him because his arms are so long. That made it easier for us to get him the ball.”

Williams admitted that he was bothered by the cold-shoulder treatment the Titans gave him early in the season, but he began earning their respect in practice, and that has carried over into the games.

“I worked real hard in practice and began scoring there, so they figured I could do it in the games,” Williams said. “I had a long talk with Agee a few months ago, and he told me the system doesn’t need me to score. It needs me to play defense and block shots. He said I’d have next year to score.”

So how does Williams respond? By scoring more, of course.

“Sean gained confidence when his teammates started throwing the ball into him,” Titan Coach John Sneed said. “His jump hook isn’t pretty, but after a while, you see it goes in. He gives you a different look with his size.”

Williams scored 14 of his points in the second half, including two consecutive follow shots that gave Fullerton a 59-41 lead with 12 minutes 16 seconds remaining and a key three-point play that snuffed an Irvine rally.

The Anteaters had used a 16-5 run to trim a 21-point deficit to 10, 73-63, with 3:22 left. But Williams took an in-bounds pass from under the Titan basket, scored, was fouled and hit the free throw to put the Titans back up by 13. The Anteaters didn’t threaten the rest of the way.

“We got it to respectable, but there was never a time when the Titans got upset, like they were saying, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’ ” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said.

The last time the teams met on Jan. 18, Irvine used a 14-3 run to cut a 76-62 deficit to 79-76 in the final seconds. But the Titans held on for an 86-83 victory.

The Anteaters hardly got close enough Saturday to even make a run at the Titans. Fullerton took control of the game with a 10-point outburst late in the first half, as the Titans extended a 34-29 lead to 44-29 with 2:11 remaining.

Gerald McDonald hit a three-pointer at the 6:25 mark for Irvine, but the Anteaters didn’t score again until Jeff Von Lutzow’s free throw with 1:45 left, a 4:40 span.

Joe Small scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half for the Titans, who pushed the lead to 21 with 9:22 left in the game. That’s when the Anteaters ran off nine consecutive points to cut it to 68-56.

Von Lutzow had 13 points, McDonald had 12, Keith Stewart had 11 and Johnson had 10 for Irvine, which shot 39% from the field after shooting 55% in the last two games.