Fullerton Falters at Finish Against UC Santa Barbara

Cal State Fullerton pulled another disappearing act in the final minutes and lost to UC Santa Barbara, 68-58, Saturday night in a Big West Conference game played before 4,623 in the Events Center.

The Titans led, 52-50, with 5:54 remaining, but the Gauchos, 17-6 overall and 10-4 in the Big West, outscored Fullerton, 18-6, the rest of the way. In the Titans’ 85-71 loss to Cal State Long Beach on Thursday, the Titans were outscored, 20-5, in the last five minutes.

“There were a lot of mental breakdowns in the end, and you can’t afford to make those mistakes because Santa Barbara is the type of team that really capitalizes,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said.

“In crunch time, the last three or four minutes of a game, they’re one of the best teams in the league.”

Lucius Davis led Santa Barbara with 26 points, Michael Meyer added 10 points and eight rebounds and point guard Ray Kelly had seven points, 12 assists and three steals.

Two of those steals came in the final three minutes, and both led to Gaucho baskets. Two other turnovers--Sean Williams’ offensive foul with 5:25 to go and Joe Small’s turnover with 2:27 left--also hurt the Titans, who have lost three games in a row and fell to 10-14, 6-9.

Wasted in the loss was a fine performance by Fullerton point guard Aaron Sunderland, who rebounded from Thursday’s nine-turnover night to score 21 points, including three of four three-pointers, and pass out four assists.

“He made some big buckets in transition, and without some of those, we wouldn’t have been close with five minutes to go,” Sneed said. “But in those last five minutes, we didn’t complete plays and the other team did.”