Titans Make Big Recovery in Nevada

In Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World,” Cal State Fullerton produced The Biggest Little Victory of the Season.

It wasn’t as dramatic as the Titans’ victory at UC Santa Barbara last month. It wasn’t part of a larger scheme, such as their 12-game home winning streak. But what the Titans’ 72-60 victory over Nevada on Saturday night did was allow them to avoid disaster--a zero-for-two road swing.

And after an 86-61 wake-up call at Utah State on Thursday, the Titans this morning are suddenly looking at a different set of circumstances: Thanks to Cal State Long Beach and Pacific losses on Saturday, Fullerton (12-6, 7-4) is alone in third place in the Big West Conference.

“We got embarrassed Thursday night,” said forward Bruce Bowen, who finished with a game-high 18 points. “You can really tell a team’s character by how they come back.”

Said center Sean Williams: “After getting our butt kicked by 23 . . . “

Uh, 25, Sean.

”. . . oh, yeah, 25, it was a big win.”

Now, look who has six of eight games--and five of seven in the Big West--remaining at home.

“No question, from a lot of points of view, this was a very critical game for us,” Coach Brad Holland said. “You want to rectify Thursday. You want to come back home and feel like you’ve got it going.

“If we had dropped two and were 6-5, we’d pretty much be out of the top three or four in the conference.”

At 7-4, the Titans are off to their best conference start since the 1984-1985 team went 8-3 in its first 11 games of what was then the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn..

“Before the game, Coach said, ‘There’s nothing to say. We need this win,’ ” point guard Aaron Sunderland said. “Everyone produced.”

Fullerton went on a 9-0 run near the end of the first half to seize a 33-21 lead, Sunderland hit a jumper from the top of the key with 4:10 remaining in the game to diffuse a Nevada comeback and keep Fullerton ahead by five, 56-51, and then the Titans made eight of 12 free throws over the next three minutes to avert another embarrassment.

Sunderland had 16 points and Williams added 12; Eric Morris, hounded by Bowen, led last-place Nevada (7-11, 2-9) with 16 points--one under his average--and 13 rebounds.

The Titans made 22 of 33 free throws; Nevada made only eight of 11.

All in all, it was quite a different story from Thursday, when Williams (five points), forward Kim Kemp (three) and guard Don Leary (zero) all had season-low point totals.

For a team that left campus on Wednesday with warm and fuzzy hearts, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

“We had one of our toughest practices in a long time on Friday,” Bowen said. “Coach was strictly business. We knew that when we got on the bus in Utah (heading for the Salt Lake City airport).

“Nobody wanted to test him.”

Saturday, the Titans faced the most dangerous of opponents: A wounded one. Nevada was without its second-leading scorer, center Ric Herrin (14-point average), who was suspended for a game because of an ejection after a fight during the Wolf Pack-UC Irvine game Thursday.

Also, Wolf Pack point guard Melvin Jones was hobbled with a sprained ankle and played only about half the game.

But the Titans didn’t even think of letting down. And when they had a chance to late, when Nevada was making a desperate comeback, and Kirk Davidson broke loose for a layup in traffic to cut Fullerton’s lead to three, 56-53, with 3:47 left, Holland was beside himself.

During a break, he summoned Sunderland to the sideline, screamed in the guard’s face and grabbed him by the jersey. Seems Sunderland blew a defensive switch and, in a tight game for a team clinging to life, this wasn’t something to be tolerated.

“We went over and over and over that in practice,” Sunderland said. “I had to switch. Sean (Williams) did, and I didn’t.

“I think y’all saw what happened. I knew I messed up.”

But this one had a happy ending for Fullerton--Williams even connected on his first three-pointer of the season just before the buzzer.