Titans Toe the Line, Roll Past Utah State : Fullerton: 30-for-34 free-throw shooting, defense are keys in 91-71 victory.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans pride themselves on playing annoying basketball. Defense is their game; they poke, they prod, they swat and wave.

Then, during a 91-71 drubbing of Utah State in a Big West Conference game in front of 1,850 Saturday night in Titan Gym, they reached the free-throw line and suddenly became the calmest, coolest guys in the building.

What, them sweat?

The Titans (7-4, 2-2) stunned Utah State (5-5, 2-1) by making their first 18 free throws--30 of 34 for the game--and delivered the knockout punch by holding the Aggies to one field goal in the first 11:37 of the second half. Suddenly, their three consecutive losses to nationally ranked teams don’t sting quite as much.

“I told our team after the game, I was excited watching them,” said Fullerton Coach Brad Holland, who called it the Titans’ best all-around game of the season. “I wanted to get a uniform and join them.”

The Aggies arrived at Fullerton tied with New Mexico State for first place in the conference, and the Titans fixed that in a hurry.

“No more,” said Fullerton forward Kim Kemp, who equaled his career-high of 14 rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.

Titan forward Bruce Bowen, who made all seven of his first-half shots, finished with a game-high 25 points, and center Sean Williams added 17.

The Titans thoroughly dominated, shooting 50.9% from the field to Utah State’s 40.3%, out-rebounding the Aggies, 35-25, and forcing 17 turnovers--including 10 Titan steals.

And then there was point guard Aaron Sunderland, who followed Jay Goodman, Utah State’s leading scorer, like a photographer stalking Cindy Crawford. Sunderland held Goodman to 13 points--four under his average--and yielded only three three-pointers, two in the game’s final moments.

“Goodman really makes them tick, and Aaron did a good job of harassing him,” Holland said. “He took away some passing angles and contested his shot well.”

In addition, Sunderland scored 15 points, dished out seven assists and had five rebounds.

“That’s hard to do when you’re playing that hard on defense,” Holland said.

Said Sunderland: “My shot was there. Coach was telling me to keep shooting. They kept falling and falling.”

It figured that Sunderland had to be reminded to shoot, because his mind was elsewhere when the game began.

“Coach put it on me like, ‘Goodman’s their go-to person,’ ” Sunderland said. “I sat down and thought to myself, ‘If I stop Goodman, we’re going to win the game tonight.’ ”

Fullerton, in fact, had only one noticeable weakness. No matter how many times Holland looked down at his bench, there was no 7-footer at his disposal.

He could have used one in the first half, because Utah State’s Nate Wickizer--7 feet on the button--waded through the Titans for 15 first-half points.

But in the second half, Williams, realizing he had only two fouls, bellied up tighter on Wickizer, and the Utah State center ended up tying his season high with . . . 17 points.

One little bucket in the second half.

“He was a big man,” Kemp said. “But Sean, man, he’s a big-time center in this league.”

Plus, he had the home-court advantage. The way this series has gone, Fullerton might have gotten away with playing in its house slippers and still won. The home team usually has its way--Utah State, 2-0 on the road in the Big West before Saturday, has now lost seven consecutive games in Titan Gym. Fullerton, meanwhile, has lost 10 in a row at Utah State.

And with Fullerton dropping free throws as easily as sliding quarters into a vending machine, the Aggies didn’t have much of a chance. The school record of 100%--12 of 12, set against Pepperdine in 1991--was in jeopardy until Bowen missed Fullerton’s 19th attempt with 12:33 left.

By then, though, the Titans were off on a 15-5 run to begin the second half and were well on their way to an enjoyable evening.

The only problem is, the way things are going, their Big West underdog status is in danger of expiring soon.