House of Guilt Falls on Titans : Basketball: Playing without three starters and one reserve suspended for breaking team rules, Cal State Fullerton’s home-court winning streak ends at 12 when Houston wins, 77-63.

Suspend that Cal State Fullerton home-court winning streak at 12 games and close the book.

The Titans, minus three starters and one substitute who were suspended indefinitely on Tuesday for violating team rules, were a shell of their former selves in a 77-63 loss to Houston on Wednesday night.

The House of Pain became the House of Guilt as the fourth-longest home-court winning streak in the land lay strewn among the pieces of lost momentum. Center Sean Williams, forward Kim Kemp and point guard Aaron Sunderland--who average a combined 35 points per game--were not even allowed in the gymnasium, let alone into the starting lineup.

In addition to the absence of the three starters, back-up point guard Sharif Metoyer was also banished as a result of an incident late Saturday night after Fullerton’s victory in Reno. Although Coach Brad Holland would only say the four violated team rules, sources say that the punishment was because of curfew violations.

Holland said the four will resume practicing with the team today and may play against UC Irvine on Saturday.

Without them, the Titans:

--Fielded a lineup featuring only two regular starters, forward Bruce Bowen and guard Don Leary--each of whom is suffering from stress fractures in a foot.

--Stayed in a zone defense the entire game, while Houston made a school-record 15 of 28 three-point attempts.

--Were probably relieved afterward that Houston’s side of the scoreboard never spun out of control.

By the end of the evening, Leary was telling stories and Bowen was talking about playing point guard.

That’s how off-kilter this night was.

“I had the same problem in (community college),” Leary said when asked about his absent mates. “The last time, the bus left the guys behind. We only had five guys and we got beat by 50.”

Point was, there weren’t as many points separating Houston and Fullerton as many in the Titan Gym crowd of 2,084 expected.

Mostly, it was because of Leary, who scored 21 points and made six of 12 three-pointers, and Bowen, whose 26 points moved him into 10th place on the Fullerton career scoring list.

Bowen, 6 feet 7, spent the night playing a little point guard, a little center and a little everything in-between. Afterward? Forget about that all-time scoring list. The man wanted to talk ballhandling.

“All the point guards across the country, I know they love it,” he said, beaming. “You bring the ball up, all eyes are on you, you look at the coach--’What do you want to run, coach?’

“I love it.”

Fullerton (12-7) held a surprising lead with 9:30 to play, 18-16, on Bowen’s soft jumper from the lane. But Houston, behind a flurry of threes, went on an 18-1 run to take a 34-19 lead.

Fullerton never recovered, although the Titans did trim Houston’s lead to 61-53 when Leary hit a three-pointer with 5:38 to play.

“Our players were all business and played hard,” Holland said. “We certainly reached our expectations . . .

“Hopefully the one thing that will come out of this is that the four who are suspended understand they really hurt their teammates tonight.”

The entire game, it seemed, was played over the Titans’ heads. Houston (13-6) set a school record by making 15 three-pointers, and guard David Diaz tied a school record with seven three pointers among his 25 points.

Houston’s 15 three-pointers were the most against a Fullerton team, and the 28 three-point attempts ties the most against the Titans.

“Seemed like they had two or three guys who could shoot the three,” said Fullerton’s Dijon Bernard in one of the evening’s understatements.

Houston Coach Pat Foster, despite the victory, was unhappy with the play of his team. Although forward Derrick Smith had 18 points and Jessie Drain made four of seven three-pointers and finished with 14 points, star center Charles Outlaw was held to four points and nine rebounds.

Foster credited Fullerton’s zone with shutting down Houston’s inside game, but also said it was difficult for the Cougars to play once they heard about the suspensions.

“The conditions were bad for both teams,” Foster said. “But their kids played awfully well and awfully hard. They didn’t make many mistakes.

“I guarantee you their coach made his point, and the kids he had on the floor responded real well.”

How Fullerton will respond Saturday against UC Irvine remains to be seen. Bowen acknowledged that the team may need time to heal after the events of this week.

“It’s disappointing to me personally,” Bowen said. “We worked so hard. We all were supposed to work together. One person doesn’t suffer--the whole team does.

“But that’s life. Hopefully the four players will learn from the mistakes they made. In life, you’re going to have demands that you must obey. Coach Holland is helping them out. You get into the real world after basketball, and you don’t make a deadline, hey, you might be fired.

“They’ll bounce back.”