Unlikely Cast Keeps Titans Close in Loss : College basketball: With ailing Ward and Small on bench, Fullerton falls, 63-60, to New Mexico State.

Agee Ward sat on the bench in jeans and a baseball cap. Joe Small was beside him, wearing shorts and a baseball cap. Cal State Fullerton was tipping off against New Mexico State, but the Titans’ two leading scorers were in street clothes, and two other starters were sitting on the bench with them.

It was an unlikely cast Thursday that kept Fullerton in the game until the final minute of a 63-60 loss to the Aggies in front of 8,832 in the Pan American Center: Kevin Ahsmuhs, Todd Satalowich, Kim Kemp, Brian Wood and Bruce Bowen, the lone regular starter.

Satalowich and Wood were making the first starts of their careers. Ahsmuhs, at 6 feet 9 and 210 pounds, was making his debut as a small forward. Bowen, 6-7, was moved to shooting guard. Wood, a community college transfer, has been seen as so lacking at times this season that Fullerton’s coaches said they didn’t have a backup point guard.

But it was a cast that took a seven-point halftime lead, and came up just short of a purposeful Aggie team down the stretch.

“I’m really proud of the way my substitutes played,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said. “That was as good a team effort as we’ve had all year. There wasn’t hardly a selfish player on the floor.”

Sneed was without Ward because the Titan forward has been suffering from muscle spasms in his back since Wednesday’s practice. Small has been ill, and hadn’t practiced since the Titans’ game Saturday, Sneed said. Sean Williams also has been ill. And Sneed benched Aaron Sunderland, the point guard, for missing Monday’s practice.

“When he missed practice,” Sneed said, allowing himself a smile, “I didn’t know everybody was going to be sick.”

The Fullerton substitutes weren’t daunted by the task.

“I thought the subs had poise on the floor,” Sneed said. “Even though it’s a loss, it’s a confidence builder. We can go into the tournament knowing even when we are healthy we have subs who can come in and play.”

Fullerton (12-15, 8-10 in the Big West) is likely to draw Utah State in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament next Friday.

On Thursday, the Titans got six rebounds, two assists and a block out of Ahsmuhs, steady defense from Satalowich and 14 points from Kemp. Bowen led the Titans with 17 and Williams added 14.

Wood did the directing.

“I had no idea how long I would play Brian,” Sneed said. “He did such an outstanding job, I left him in the game. He was the one winning it for us. I decided to give those players the opportunity to win the game.”

Wood ended up playing 29 minutes to Sunderland’s 11.

“I kind of just make myself stable in practice and remember there might be a situation where I have to go in and play anytime I’m called on,” said Wood, whose longest outing before Thursday was 18 minutes at Utah State after Sunderland got four first-half fouls.

“We felt if we went out and played hard and took good shots, we’d have a chance. We knew they were probably going to underestimate us with two guys out.”

New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy said Wood was right.

“We talked about stopping Agee, containing Joe Small,” McCarthy said. “That’s what we’d been working on. Then I have to tell them right before the game that Agee’s not playing, Joe Small’s not playing and the point guard is benched. My guys go, ‘Geez, this is great. We don’t have to show up.’ ”

It almost seemed as if they didn’t in the first half. The Aggies (19-7, 11-6) shot 20%, making only seven field goals, and trailed at halftime, 32-25.

But the Aggies came out shooting well in the second half, and William Benjamin’s back-to-back three-pointers gave New Mexico State the lead, 40-39.

It was nip-and-tuck most of the rest of the way until the Aggies took the lead for good, 57-55, with 59 second remaining when Cliff Reed dunked after Sam Crawford drove the lane and dumped the ball back to him. Crawford’s steal of an inbounds pass to Williams with 33 seconds left helped decide the game.

Crawford didn’t start because he has been ill, but played 29 minutes.

“The little fella was sick,” McCarthy said. “I really wasn’t going to play him but we got behind and he said, ‘Coach, I want to go in.’ I said, ‘Do you feel good?’ He said, ‘No, but put me in anyway.’ ”

He got the victory, but the Titans got to feel good.

“In this conference a lot of people don’t win on the road, but playing that well with your two scorers out, we have to go into the Big West Conference tournament with a big shot of confidence,” Wood said.

Bowen, the most experienced player on the court for Fullerton, agreed.

“I was really happy for them the way they played,” he said.