Another Cold Night for Titans : College basketball: Fullerton can’t compete in shooting contest against Montana and loses, 70-62.

Cal State Fullerton’s shooting misery continued Saturday night in Titan Gym and a solid Montana team made the most of it with a 70-62 victory.

The best shooting performance of the night, however, was at halftime when a fan, David Chambers, 33, of Fullerton, made two of three shots from center court to win $10,000 in a promotion. The prize money is covered by a promotional company.

Neither basketball team could come close to topping that, and the shaky-shooting Titans weren’t even in the ballpark. The Grizzlies (8-3) were 49% from the field compared to 37.9% for Fullerton, handing the Titans their fifth consecutive loss in front of 1,237.

Fullerton (1-7) is off to its worst start in basketball since the 1964-65 team went 0-9 in a 1-25 season.

The Titans fell behind, 40-23, at halftime when they shot only 30.8% from the field and couldn’t make up the difference with an improved performance in the second half.

“That was a big deficit at halftime, and you can’t afford to dig yourself that big a hole and come back against that kind of team,” Coach Bob Hawking said.

Center Nate Covill led Montana with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Shawn Samuelson had 13.

Fullerton had three players in double figures. Sophomore guard Chris Dade led the way with 18, his season high. Forward John Williams had 15 and guard Chuck Overton 13.

The Grizzlies shot 48.4% in the first half, with most of the points from close range. Montana pushed the ball inside for a series of easy baskets early and was up by 10 points at 22-12 midway through the first half.

“We were manhandled on the glass and they were shooting the ball and we weren’t in the first half,” Hawking said. “We stepped it up in the second half and made it competitive, but it was just too far for us to come. We’re obviously a young team and we’re learning on the job.”

Montana led by 12 points with three minutes left before Fullerton cut into the deficit.

Montana Coach Blaine Taylor said he believed his team’s strong defensive play was a factor in Fullerton’s sluggish shooting in the first half. “We’ve been a good defensive team all season, and I thought we did a good job again in this game,” he said.

Montana used a zone part of the way, primarily because of Fullerton’s problems shooting from outside. “We knew they hadn’t been shooting that well from the perimeter,” Taylor said. “Fullerton regrouped at halftime, though, and you have to give them credit for that.”

Hawking said Montana’s size inside was a problem. The Grizzlies had a 35-33 rebounding advantage.

“We had to learn to deal with that, though,” he said. “But I liked the character our kids showed in the second half. But we’re shooting 39% for the season, and that’s been one of our sore spots.”

Hawking said he wants his players to look to the beginning of conference play as a fresh start.

“All this doesn’t mean a thing when we start the conference,” he said. “We’re 0-0 from that standpoint.”