Utah Hands Titans Record Loss, 108-58

Utah had made it a “money” game for Cal State Fullerton with a lucrative guarantee, but that was about all it offered the down-on-their-luck Titans Wednesday night.

The 15th-ranked Utes rolled to a 108-58 victory before 14,756 in the Huntsman Center. It was Fullerton’s worst Division I loss. The Titans were beaten by Utah State, 115-60, in the 1972-73 season when they were Division II.

Utah (8-2) sent Fullerton (1-6) to its fourth consecutive loss behind the strong performances of former Southern California high school players Brandon Jessie of Huntington Beach and Keith Van Horn of Diamond Bar.

Jessie, a 6-4 guard who played at Edison High and then at Ventura College, scored 20 points, making six of 10 from the field and eight of nine free throws. Van Horn, a 6-9 junior forward who led the Western Athletic Conference in scoring and rebounding last year, finished with 19 points and six rebounds.

Fullerton is down to eight scholarship players because of injuries and reserve center Dirk Rasloff played with a facemask protecting his nose, which was broken in practice Tuesday night.

It was a rout by halftime and Utah’s biggest point total of the season by the final horn. Utah outscored Fullerton, 35-3, in the final 11 minutes.

“Their size and overall strength was too much for us right now,” Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said. “They’re really a powerful team. Van Horn is probably a first-round draft choice in the NBA right now. They have a lot of veteran players.”

Utah, which had beaten USC by 35 points at home on Saturday, ran up a 59-35 cushion at the intermission with Jessie getting 13 points and Van Horn 11 as Utah shot 68% from the field.

“We took it down to 13 in the first half, but they blew it open at the end of the first half,” Hawking said.

Fullerton guard Chuck Overton. returning to the city where he played junior college basketball, had 21 points, but made only seven of 18 shots. Forward John Williams had 13 points, although he was five of 19 from the floor.

The Titans were outrebounded, 41-29, with 6-11 Utah center Michael Doleac getting nine.

“Fullerton was really out-manned,” Utah Coach Rick Majerus said. “We certainly didn’t try to run it up on them. I wouldn’t do that, but we had some walk-ons in there late in the game, and you can’t tell a walk-on not to play hard.

“Their kids played hard too, but we’re bigger than they are and we have more depth. I felt badly about it because I’ve been in that situation before myself.”