CS Long Beach Blitzes Titans in Second Half : College basketball: Fullerton can’t capitalize on strong first 20 minutes and then falls short in comeback, 80-68.

They sat on the bench as the final seconds ticked off and watched their season melt away in a most unlikely fashion.

Gone was a strong first-half performance that left the Cal State Fullerton Titans feeling as if they would play basketball tonight. Gone were the smiles and hand-slaps and back-pats that were a staple for much of the 1992-1993 season.

Gone now are four senior starters and the season itself.

Gone . . .

Cal State Long Beach stormed back in the second half to whip the Titans, 80-68, in a Big West quarterfinal game in front of 6,129 in Long Beach Arena.

The 49ers (20-9), still entertaining NCAA tournament hopes, were a near-perfect 19 of 22 from the free throw line in the game’s final 7:30 to advance to tonight’s semifinals against Nevada Las Vegas at 9.

The Titans (15-12) got a career-high from Sean Williams (24 points) and a season-low from Bruce Bowen (four).

Lucious Harris and Bryon Russell had 20 points apiece for Long Beach. It was the second consecutive year in which Long Beach knocked Fullerton out of the conference tournament in the first round. Last year, the 49ers defeated the Titans, 77-71.

Fullerton trailed only once during the first half, but Long Beach put a 16-2 run on the Titans to open the second, and Fullerton spun off-balance the rest of the way.

There was at least one disappointed Runnin’ Rebel. After UNLV dispatched of Utah State, 104-86, J.R. Rider said there was no question which team he would rather play in tonight’s semifinals: Fullerton.

“Personally, I’d rather play Fullerton,” Rider said. “I think we owe them one, having just lost to them.

“I’m tired of having people celebrate when they beat us like they just won the national championship. I think we owe them one.”

But Rider, a senior, will never get the chance.

It could have been a day at the beach for Fullerton. Maybe it should have been a day at the beach. But after sailing through the first half as if they were headed straight for Rider and Co., the Titans suddenly were beached.

Long Beach started the second half with a burst of fury and energy that hadn’t been seen even briefly in the first half.

Bowen was summoned to the bench less then five minutes into the second half after committing turnovers on Fullerton’s first two second-half possessions and a sudden lack of defensive effectiveness on Harris, who got two quick, easy buckets.

The rest of the Titans looked confused.

But what the 49ers did was begin the half with a fierce press that drove the Titans absolutely crazy. Long Beach trailed nearly the entire first half but took a second-half lead more quickly than Madonna latches onto a new boyfriend.

The 49ers increased their lead to 48-41 before the Titans finally put together a comeback. Not until 7:46 remained did Fullerton tie it, 53-53, on an Aaron Sunderland shot from the key.

From there, it was a race to the finish--played out mostly on the free throw line. And Long Beach, playing like a team possessed, refused to cave in.

But then, the fact that the 49ers were able to climb back into it was a tribute to the inconsistent, talented, zany team that they have been all winter, one that won at Kansas but lost to Cal State Northridge.

Thanks to Don Leary, who shot as easily as if he were dropping dimes into a gum machine, Fullerton dictated the pace for most of the first half. The Titans, who only trailed once in the first 20 minutes, led by as many as 13 and were ahead at the half, 36-28.

Leary swished a three-pointer with 15:10 to play to increase Fullerton’s lead to 10-6; drilled another three from the top of the key with 9:19 left to push the Titan lead to 19-14, and then sank yet another three--this one wide open--from the left side of the key at 5:26 before halftime to boost the score to 27-18.

That brought 49er Coach Seth Greenberg up off of the bench, wildly gesticulating for a timeout. He got it, and he went onto the court to chew out Rod Hannibal, who apparently missed an assignment on Leary, on his way to the bench.

The Fullerton run--it would reach 8-0--continued after the timeout. Leary--who else?--hit a jumper from the free-throw line, and when Williams made a jump hook a minute or so later, it was 31-18.

Much of Long Beach’s problem was that Bowen stuck with Harris, the Big West’s all-time leading scorer, like a bad song inside your head. Harris scored seven first-half points, making only three of nine field goals.

He wasn’t the only one off-target, though. Long Beach shot only 30% in the first half, making a mere 10 of 33 shots.

Fullerton, meanwhile, sailed along at 56% on 14-of-25 shooting. Leary had 11 points by halftime (four of four) and Kim Kemp snapped up eight rebounds.

For Leary, it was totally unlike any other Long Beach game. The first-year junior guard mustered only five points in the first meeting between the teams and then scored 10 in Fullerton’s 68-61 victory on Feb. 18.