Brawl Cools Titans’ Victory Celebration : Basketball: Bowen and assistant trainer Mike Amaral need to ice down after postgame fight at the Bren Center.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans were true ice men during a come-from-behind 61-59 Big West victory at UC Irvine Saturday night.

And following an ugly postgame brawl, forward Bruce Bowen held a bag of ice against his head, and assistant trainer Mike Amaral’s right elbow was wrapped in ice, as if he had recently pitched eight or nine innings.

During a time they should have been grinning, shouting or at least recapping details of a game in which the Titans had only two leads--on the first basket and the last--Bowen and Amaral instead were hoping the ice would numb the effects of a real post-game bash.

Seconds after Don Leary’s game-winning shot, when the teams were shaking hands, Irvine senior Uzoma Obiekea, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward-center, allegedly punched Bowen in the nose, setting off a brawl serious enough to bring campus police onto the floor at the Bren Center.

Bowen ended up with a swollen nose and Amaral, who dived on top of Bowen to protect him, had a swollen right elbow after being kicked by a UC Irvine player who was attempting to get at Bowen.

“I went to shake (Obiekea’s) hand,” said Bowen, who finished with 12 points. “He faked like he was going to shake my hand and he punched me.”

Bob Olson, Irvine sports information director, and Brad Holland, Fullerton coach, each viewed a videotape later and confirmed that Obiekea had punched a Fullerton player.

Olson said that on the tape he saw, he could not tell which Fullerton player was struck by Obiekea. Holland said that it was Bowen.

Obiekea adopted a “what, me worry?” posture. When Bowen’s accusations were relayed, Obiekea, sitting in front of his locker talking to teammates, acted befuddled.

“That’s what he said?” Obiekea said. “I don’t know. He’s the one who walked up to our bench. I don’t even know who Bowen is.”

It was an interesting comment, because the same two got into a fight in last year’s game at Irvine.

In that game, Bowen said Obiekea was stepping on his feet on an inbounds play, and Obiekea said Bowen made what he took to be a racial insult.

Reminded of last year’s incident, Obiekea said: “All I remember is we had a fight. The whole team.”

Bowen was visibly upset in the hall outside the Titan locker room.

“I don’t know,” Bowen said. “I go to shake people’s hands after the game. I’m not looking for a fight. The same person did the same thing last year . . .

“I thought nothing would happen this year. It just goes to show you that some people don’t change.”

Obiekea was kicked off last year’s team for unspecified reasons before Coach Rod Baker allowed him back this year.

As for Amaral, he spent a few minutes giving a police report before he boarded the bus with his elbow wrapped in ice.

“I saw (Bowen) on the ground covering his face,” Amaral said. “I (dived) on top of him because I didn’t know who else was coming in.”

Amaral said that while he was laying on top of Bowen, an Irvine player continually kicked at Bowen. According to Amaral, that’s how he hurt his elbow.

“I tried to get in his way with my arm,” Amaral said. “I was covering Bruce.”

Unfortunately, this post-game version of “covering” had nothing to do with defense.