Bad Titans Do In Good Ones : Basketball: Stretches of inept play too much to overcome when things click and Fullerton loses, 78-75.

In three games this season, the Cal State Fullerton Titans have been masters of both herky and jerky.

Which explains why the Titans found themselves with the ball, down by three, attempting to traverse the final steps of a wild comeback with only 1:25 to play at St. Mary’s Friday night.

It also explains guard Danny Robinson, racing across mid-court, getting tangled in a Gael trap and losing the basketball out of bounds, effectively ending the Titan rally and sealing a 78-75 loss in front of 2,192.

“We’re getting there, but it’s real early,” guard James French said gingerly. “I think it’s just a matter of experience now.”

Give this to the Titans: They experienced about everything they could Friday except victory.

They trailed by as many as 17 in the first half before slicing the margin to one.

They trailed by as many as 16 in the second half before trimming the margin to three.

“Those are growing pains,” Coach Brad Holland said. “When you have a brand new team, you grow with the positives, and you grow with the not-so-positives.”

Yes, quickly shifting into the velvet hammer mode with this crop of green horns, Holland really did refer to the “not-so-positives.”

“Our kids battled,” he continued. “We cut a couple of pretty big deficits. I’m proud of the way we battled back. We knocked on the door, we just couldn’t open it all the way.”

The Titans were all over the map, just not in the right place. The key for the Gaels was pinpoint accuracy. While they were out-rebounded (41-25) and had 21 turnovers to Fullerton’s 22, they made 53.7% of their field-goal attempts (29 of 54) and 38.9% of their three-pointers (seven of 18).

Fullerton shot 46.4% (26 of 56).

St. Mary’s, using a half-court trap defense and a blistering pace on offense, set the tone early by forcing turnovers on Fullerton’s first two possessions.

Later, building on a 43-36 halftime lead, the Gaels nailed four three-pointers--three from guard Martell Bland, which accounted for nearly all of his 11 points--in the first seven minutes of the second half to make it what proved to be an insurmountable 63-47.

“That kills you,” Holland said.

But that was one Fullerton team, the one that bounced bad passes like bad checks and missed enough defensive assignments to nearly make Holland wear a hole through his windpipe.

The other Fullerton team, the one that attempted to climb out of these crater-sized holes, took delicate care of the ball, pressed with gusto and knocked in free throws as if they were layups.

The Titans, after missing their first three from the free-throw line, made eight of eight during one first-half stretch, fueling a 14-0 run that enabled them to cut the deficit to one, 36-35, 1:45 before halftime.

And with the clock ticking down in the second half, they charged from a 63-47 hole with 13:50 to play to within three, 75-72, with 2:06 left thanks to strong inside work from walk-on Fred Amos (12 points) and the steady play of Greg Vernon (16) and French (11).

In the end, though, there wasn’t a go-to guy who was able to step up, grab the Titans by the scruff of their necks and drag them to victory.

“That’s the thing about this team, we have a lot of new guys,” Amos said. “I think everybody is trying to step up and do their part. We’re not necessarily trying to rely on one guy.”

But, when you have the ball and you’re down three, and seconds are disappearing like the sun on the horizon, doesn’t that hurt?

“I don’t think we needed a go-to guy,” Amos said. “We just needed to relax a little bit.”

So Fullerton (1-2) joins a growing list of Big West Conference teams turned into mincemeat this winter by St. Mary’s (5-0). The Gaels, having already disposed of UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State, are off to their best start since going 9-0 to open the 1988-89 season.

“I’m not trying to minimize what they’ve done, but Big West teams now might not be the same as Big West teams later,” Amos said. “You just wish you could jump into the season and be prepared, but that’s what you need these early games for.”