Timeout, Luck Run Out on Cal State Fullerton : Basketball: Holland puzzled by officials’ decision late in 84-82 loss to San Jose State.

James French’s 15-foot jump shot with five seconds left bounced off the rim, but that wasn’t what angered Cal State Fullerton Coach Brad Holland.

Fullerton went scoreless for 2 minutes 25 seconds down the stretch, but that wasn’t what made Holland mad, either.

Holland’s emotions were mixed after the Titans’ 84-82 loss to San Jose State in a Big West Conference game Saturday night at the Event Center.

He was pleased with how the Titans (4-15, 2-9) played tough after losing consecutive road games at Long Beach State (by 22 points) and at Pacific (31 points).

But he was disgusted with how the Titans had to scramble onto the court after a timeout with 1:03 remaining after the game official sat the ball down on an inbounds play and began running off the five-second count. The Titans trailed, 83-82, at the time.

Center Winston Peterson grabbed the ball and called a timeout, saving the possession but costing the Titans their final timeout.

Holland argued that the officials never gave the Titans a required warning to break their huddle.

“You have to talk to the officials about that,” Holland said. “You saw the game. You point out the particular plays and tell me what happened. I can’t say anything.

“They (officials) are supposed to give us a warning (near the end of) the timeout. But no one from our staff heard from an official. Here we were, in the gut of a game ... you ask them (officials) that question.”

That final timeout the Titans wasted would have come in handy when French got the ball with 12 seconds left and drove down the right side of the court. He pulled up from 15 feet on the right side, but his shot drew only iron.

“I thought I could have had a 10-footer because the defense sagged off me,” French said. “I had a good look at the basket. It felt good when I went up, but when it left my hands, I knew it was short.”

San Jose’s Lossie Mitchel got the rebound and was fouled by Fullerton’s David Frigout. Mitchel made one of two free-throw attempts to make it 84-82, and Fullerton’s Danny Robinson was short on a desperation shot beyond half court at the buzzer.

“In some aspects, this game was tougher on us (than the Pacific loss),” French said. “We deserved to win this game. We gave a better effort.”

San Jose (11-8, 7-4) swept the regular-season series with Fullerton for the first time since 1981. The Spartans beat the Titans, 69-63, two weeks ago.

Fullerton led, 40-34, after Frigout hit two free throws with 3:36 left in the first half. But the Spartans turned consecutive Robinson turnovers into three-pointers by Jason Allen and Mitchel, keying an 11-5 run that tied it, 45-45, at halftime.

The Titans kept it close in the first four minutes of the second half, but San Jose pulled away with a 7-2 run sparked by a short jumper and a layup by leading scorer Terry Cannon.

San Jose pushed its lead to nine, 67-58, after a dunk by Roy Hammonds with 10:20 left.

But Fullerton kept chipping away at the deficit. David Little hit a three-pointer. Greg Vernon added two free throws. Fred Amos hit a free throw, and Vernon followed the miss. French hit a three-pointer to cut it to 73-72 with 6:51 remaining.

Fullerton its first lead since early in the second half when Winston Peterson’s layup with 3:16 left gave the Titans an 80-79 lead.

But the Titans went scoreless for the next 2:25. Cannon intercepted a bad pass by Robinson, and Hammonds followed a Cannon miss to make it 83-80 with 1:45 left.

Titan Notes

The men’s game, scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start, began 45 minutes behind schedule. Officials for the women’s game were an hour late because of a typographical error on a Big West Conference schedule. The women’s game was scheduled for a 5 p.m. start, but the schedule said 7:30 p.m. The game began at 6, about 15 minutes after the officials arrived.