Victory Is Sweet for Titans : Basketball: Second half keys Cal State Fullerton’s 68-61 victory over Cal State Long Beach. Titans are alone in fourth in the Big West.

The gold front tooth glittered even more than usual. A few smiles will do that. See, first the smile, then Sean Williams’ mouth is open enough so that the lights can actually hit all that gold and . . .

It’s all science. Same as Williams’ inside moves--sometimes. Get the ball in traffic, turn, lay a few fakes on the defender, hit the bucket.

Which is what happened at several key moments in the second half of Cal State Fullerton’s 68-61 victory over Cal State Long Beach in front of 2,763 in Titan Gym on Thursday night.

Williams, the center who was averaging only 7.7 points in the last three games, mined the 49ers during a nine-point, second-half outburst. As a result, Fullerton (13-8, 8-5) is alone in fourth place in the Big West.

“It was definitely a half-court ballgame,” Fullerton Coach Brad Holland said. “In a half-court game, you need to get the ball inside and force the issue sometimes. They were doing a good job against us and we needed to return the favor.”

Williams, who had only two points in the first half, scored six of eight Fullerton points during one stretch midway through the second half to keep the Titans ahead by nine, 56-47, and help them hold off a Long Beach comeback.

“Williams made some shots going back with his right shoulder that he normally doesn’t make,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We probably let him catch it too deep at that spot.”

Long Beach, once ranked in the nation’s top 25, dropped into fifth place in the conference. The 49ers (16-7, 8-6) have lost six of 10.

And Fullerton--faced with playing four of the Big West’s top five teams in its final six games--got a victory it needed. The Titans, who had lost three of four and two in a row, surpassed last season’s victory total; they were 12-16 last season.

“You know, you can talk about the standings, and those are important,” Holland said. “But the more important thing to me was getting the team back to where we were.

“The last couple of weeks, we’ve lost something. I desperately wanted to see if we could get it back.”

What the Titans lost for a few days were four players, including three starters, who were suspended for breaking curfew Feb. 6. The Titans then had lost two in a row.

“That definitely took the wind out of our sails,” Holland said. “Not only the guys who committed the violations, but that of their teammates.”

Point guard Aaron Sunderland had a game-high 22 points and equaled a career-high eight rebounds for Fullerton and forward Bruce Bowen added 13 points. Long Beach was led by Lucious Harris’ 18--although Bowen, for the most part, held Harris five points under his average.

Fullerton never trailed but still seemed to narrowly avoid a third consecutive loss. The recipe for possible doom arrived for Fullerton with 6:00 to play:

--Fullerton turnover, Harris layup, trimming the Titan lead to 58-51.

--Fullerton turnover, Bryon Russell drive, making it 58-53.

--Sunderland missed 15-foot jumper, Harris bucket on a fast break. Add a Greg Vernon foul and a Harris free throw and it’s 58-56.

Suddenly, a second-half lead as big as 12 is whittled to a basket, and Long Beach had regained its confidence.

The 49ers kept up the pressure. After Williams missed one of two free throws for Fullerton with 3:09 to play, Russell sank two with 2:52 left. Worse yet for Fullerton, forward Kim Kemp drew his fifth foul on the play.

It was 60-58.

Don Leary made two free throws for Fullerton but Jeff Rogers came down and sank a three, trimming the Titan lead to 62-61 with about 2:00 to play.

But the 49ers were held scoreless the rest of the way.

Which was sort of how the whole thing started.

Long Beach out-bumbled Fullerton, so the Titans went into the locker room at halftime with a 28-25 lead.

Fullerton never trailed in a half stocked with missed shots, missed free throws, missed passes and dozens of other missed opportunities.

Fullerton shot 36% from the field, but that was awfully lofty when compared with Long Beach’s 26.9%.

Fullerton made eight of 13 free throws; Long Beach made 11 of 18.

Fullerton had eight turnovers; the 49ers had seven.

And that may have been generous.

It was almost as if the players had spent too much time in the locker room. Long Beach’s 25 points nearly equaled their season-low of 24 against Virginia Commonwealth.

What a half. Aside from Sunderland’s 14 points, nobody else scored in double-figures.