Sunderland Leads Fullerton : College basketball: He has 25 points, six rebounds and five assists in 66-64 victory over UC Santa Barbara.

Aaron Sunderland, Cal State Fullerton’s point guard, was on again and the Titans won their second game in a row, moving into a third-place tie with Pacific in the Big West Conference.

The Titans missed five free throws in the final 1:19, but still defeated UC Santa Barbara, 66-64, before 2,579 in Titan Gym on Saturday night.

On a night when Fullerton’s leading scorer, Bruce Bowen, was held to a season-low five points, Sunderland scored 25, grabbed six rebounds and had five assists. Forward Kim Kemp added a career-high 18 rebounds.

Bowen, averaging 18 points, was only two for 10 from the field and one for five from the free-throw line, but the way Sunderland has been playing lately, no one else’s problems seem to matter.

He has 75 points in Fullerton’s last three games.

On Saturday, he scored seven consecutive points during one stretch to drive Fullerton’s lead from 44-43 to 51-45, and then came up with six consecutive points during another stretch to increase the Titan lead from 53-51 to 59-53.

Sunderland scored 16 of 21 points for Fullerton as the Titans scrambled to keep a six-point lead.

The most telling moments for Sunderland came with 1:19 to play and Fullerton ahead, 62-57.

Sunderland stepped to the free-throw line after being fouled by point guard Ray Kelly. Sunderland made the first free throw, missed the second, somehow came up with the rebound under the basket and put it back in.

Fullerton (14-8, 9-5) led, 65-57, and, despite the Gauchos’ perseverance, even a three-pointer by Idris Jones that pulled them to within 65-64 with 17 seconds to play, Santa Barbara (13-9, 6-8) couldn’t pulled ahead.

The Gauchos’ final chance was stopped when Sunderland stole a pass with three seconds to play and Fullerton ahead, 66-64.

The Gauchos trailed at halftime by only 32-31, but center Doug Muse was saddled with three fouls by halftime and back-up center Kyle Milling picked up four.

Still, the Gauchos had an 8-3 run beginning with 8:57 left in the half when the Titans went 4:56 with only one basket, Sunderland’s three-pointer.

Center Sean Williams ended the Fullerton drought with a five-foot baseline jumper with 4:01 to play in the half to send Fullerton on a run. Williams followed the jumper with a dunk and a free throw, fueling an 11-3 run during which the Titans went ahead, 30-25.