Titans’ Free Fall Continues as Pacific Rolls Over Them

Playing four guards at once wasn’t the ideal lineup against a bigger Pacific team, Bob Hawking said.

Hawking, the Cal State Fullerton coach, had little choice at times, however, in Thursday’s 87-63 Big West Conference loss at the Spanos Center.

“We have some guys playing out of position, but that’s part of the dilemma when you’re short on healthy bodies,” Hawking said after the Titans fell to 6-19 and 5-12 in the Big West after their fourth loss in a row and ninth in 10 games.

Pacific (14-11, 10-7) is one game behind league leaders UC Irvine and Long Beach State after its seventh victory in eight games.

Cal State Fullerton played without its second-leading scorer, 6-foot-5 junior forward John Williams, who had a toe injury, and starter Mark Richardson, a 6-7 freshman, out for the fifth game in a row because of a broken finger.

It caused some unusual matchups, including one that had 6-foot-2 guard Chris Dade trying to stop Rayne Mahaffey, Pacific’s 6-10 center, under the basket.

The 24-point loss equaled the Titans’ worst defeat in the Big West this season, 73-49 at Utah State on Jan. 25.

Pacific found little resistance getting to the hoop, outrebounding the Titans, 40-26, and getting as many offensive rebounds (15) as the Titans had on defense.

“Those guys are big, and some of our forwards were playing center,” said Titan forward Chuck Overton, who scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. “We had guys all over the place.”

Not only were the Titans outmatched on the boards, they couldn’t stand up to Pacific’s outside shooting. Cal State Fullerton shot 39.3% from the field and made three of 19 three-point attempts, missing its first 10 until Brian Thomas hit one 3 minutes 22 seconds into the second half.

Meanwhile, the Tigers shot 52.4%, including nine of 20 on three-pointers. Reserve forward Tim Nordahl led 14 Pacific scorers with 12 points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes.

“I thought we shot the three well,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said. “We didn’t take as many as we usually do [average of 23.6], but I thought we shot it well.”

Thursday’s game was nothing like the Jan. 4 matchup at Fullerton, which the Titans won, 79-69 in overtime.

In the first game, CSF had nine turnovers in 45 minutes, while it had nine by halftime Thursday, finishing with 21.

Thomas added 18 points for the Titans, whose season isn’t ending as soon as they thought. The starting time for Sunday’s season finale at San Jose State has been moved from 1 p.m. to 5.