Balanced CS Fullerton Routs Eastern Illinois

Is Cal State Fullerton’s 4-1 start indicative of a true turnaround under rookie Coach Brad Holland, or the result of a soft nonconference schedule?

The answer won’t come this week. Fullerton, which beat a weak Eastern Illinois team, 86-60, before 1,007 in Titan Gym on Monday night, will play Division II--soon to be Division III--Chapman on Wednesday night at home. Then there will be road games at UCLA (Dec. 30), Nevada Las Vegas (Jan. 2) and New Mexico State (Jan. 4).

“After Chapman, those are three of about the toughest teams we can play,” Holland said.

“They’re all ranked teams, so we’ll find out more about ourselves after that. I liked the win tonight and we played hard, but to be competitive with those three, we have to play much better than we are now.”

All five Fullerton starters reached double figures, led by Bruce Bowen’s 20 points and Aaron Sunderland’s 17 points and seven assists. Kim Kemp had 17 points, Sean Williams added 13 and Don Leary had 12.

Fullerton made 25 of 39 free throws, outrebounded the Panthers, 41-31, and forced 22 turnovers.

The Titans used first-half runs of 9-0 and 10-0 to open a 45-26 halftime lead that was never threatened.

Sunderland, who went two for 12 during Saturday’s 75-68 victory over Cal State Northridge, enjoyed perhaps his best half of the season, scoring 11 points and getting five assists in the first 20 minutes.

Eastern Illinois fell to 1-5.