Titans’ Luck Runs Out in Loss to San Francisco : Basketball: Fullerton falls, 90-82, in overtime despite five players scoring in double figures.

Cal State Fullerton’s recent good fortune in close games disappeared in a 90-82 overtime loss to San Francisco Friday night.

The Titans led, 74-71, when guard James French made two free throws with 22 seconds left in regulation, but with 17 seconds to go, San Francisco guard Gerald Walker buried a three-point shot that sent the game into overtime.

French had a chance to win the game with a jump shot from outside in the final seconds, but it bounced off, and the Titans faltered badly in overtime. The Titans fell to 3-4. San Francisco is 5-6. Walker, who went over 1,000 points for his career in his previous game, scored a career-high 30 to go with six assists and five steals. He was clearly the game’s dominating force down the stretch, scoring his team’s first five points in the overtime. John Duggan’s three-point jump shot put the Dons six points ahead, 82-76, and the Titans never recovered.

“I guess the luck just didn’t go our way the way it has in the last two games,” Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said. “We still didn’t shoot well, and they certainly got hot at the right time.”

Fullerton shot 40.9% from the field, compared to 46.5% for the Dons, who hit 55% in the second half.

“It’s hard to beat a good team when you shoot 40%,” Hawking said. “I thought they were a good team. They’re certainly ranked ahead of us in the ratings.”

Five Titans scored in double figures, but the balance didn’t help. Center Winston Peterson, the Big West scoring leader, led the Titans with 17 points. Chuck Overton and Chris Dade each had 15, David Frigout a career-high 14 and Chris St. Clair 12.

The Titans, however, weren’t as solid defensively as they had been in their two earlier victories against Nevada Las Vegas and San Diego State.

“We definitely need to shore up defensively,” Hawking said. “We gave up some penetration all the way to the rim in this game. We gave them too many easy layups. Actually, though, I thought Dade and French did a decent job on Walker until he really broke loose there at the end.”

The Dons were up, 71-67, with just under three minutes left in regulation, but Peterson worked San Francisco center Art Wallace for his fifth foul and his two free throws along with St. Clair’s three-pointer gave Fullerton a 72-71 edge with just under two minutes to go.

The Dons missed twice from outside before French controlled the rebound, took a foul and hit two free throws. But then Walker connected on the big three-pointer.

“This was a really good win for us, coming on the road,” San Francisco Coach Jim Brovelli said. “It was similar to a league game for us on the road. It was that kind of atmosphere.”

Fullerton got off to a good start, running up a 13-6 lead on two free throws by Peterson and Frigout’s layup. The Dons came back to tie the score at 17-17, but Fullerton got its inside game in gear with two straight baskets by Peterson to lead, 29-20.

The Titans led by 10 points late in the first half, but the Dons scored twice just before the end of the first half, once on a steal and layup by Walker that cut the deficit to 38-32 at halftime.

Fullerton shot 41.9% in the first half, helped by Frigout’s four baskets in four attempts.