Titans Recover in Time to Win

With slightly less than 14 minutes left in the game, Pepperdine led Cal State Fullerton, 41-33, and it looked as though the Titans were about to come apart at the seams.

It was so bad that John Williams’ open dunk shot rattled out of the basket, and DeVaughn Wright missed the two-foot follow.

But Fullerton managed to turn it around and went on to score a 65-54 nonconference victory Saturday night in front of 921 in Titan Gym.

The Titans (5-2) outscored the Waves, 26-7, during an 11-minute span in the final 12 minutes, handing Pepperdine (1-8) its seventh consecutive loss.

“We were in control three-quarters of the game, but we didn’t do it in the quarter that counts,” Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Titan Coach Bob Hawking gave a lot of the credit for that to Williams, who finished with 21 points--all but six of them in the second half--and guard Ali Nayab, who came off the bench to score 15.

Williams ran off six consecutive points to get Fullerton back in gear, and Nayab made a layup and free throw that put the Titans ahead to stay at 51-48 with about five minutes left.

“We were trying to get Williams the ball more earlier, but they did a good job of fronting him and working behind him,” Hawking said. “We were able to get to him more in the second half and that really helped.”

Williams said Marc McDowell’s foul trouble in the second half helped him get more room inside. “I knew he had three fouls starting the second half, so I wanted to take it right to him,” Williams said. “He was playing back on his heels after that.”

McDowell was Pepperdine’s leading scorer with 13 points. He fouled out with four minutes, 15 seconds left. Pepperdine kept guard Chris Dade out of double scoring figures for the first time this season, although he made a key three-point shot to boost Fullerton’s lead to nine points with less than two minutes remaining. Dade, who finished with seven points, managed to get off only two shots in the first half, and didn’t get his first field goal until two minutes into the second half.

Fullerton shot .37.3% for the game, but the Titans were helped by a 39-36 rebounding advantage and 17 free throws in 27 tries. Pepperdine was 11 for 20 at the line, and shot 43.2% from the field.