Titans’ Roll Continues; Road Ahead Looks Smooth

With a 5-2 record, the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team needs only one more victory to equal the total the Titans had last season in 26 games.

The Titans defeated Pepperdine, 65-54, Saturday at Titan Gym, and they did what successful teams must do: They won despite a below-par performance.

It’s still early, but it’s looking more and more as though the Titans have turned the corner after three dismal seasons in a row.

“Last year we were so young, but just one year of maturity has made a big difference,” Coach Bob Hawking said.

The Titans should get victory No. 6 this weekend against Brown. And if that happens, it will be Fullerton’s best start since the 1990-91 team coached by John Sneed went 8-2. That team won eight consecutive games after losses on the road to Lamar and Tulsa, but faded and finished 14-14.

Fullerton was 5-1 in Brad Holland’s first season as coach in 1992-93, but lost its next three games to UCLA, Nevada Las Vegas and New Mexico State.

The rest of the nonconference schedule appears to be in the Titans’ favor.

The next two opponents, Brown and Columbia, are Ivy League teams that don’t figure to be as strong as Fullerton.

Brown has won only once in seven games and was beaten by Providence, 58-44, last weekend. The Bears’ only victory was against Holy Cross, 72-66, after five consecutive losses to start the season. Brown is shooting 37% from the floor and averaging 55 points.

Columbia is 2-5, and has beaten Grambling and St. Francis but lost to New Mexico, Fordham, Providence, Illinois and Central Michigan. Columbia will be playing its first game in 20 days after a holiday break.

After the Columbia game, the Titans go back on the road Jan. 4 at Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash. The Bulldogs (5-4) have been hurt by a season-ending injury to their highly regarded 7-foot center Paul Rogers. Rogers averaged 15 points last season, and went seven for 12 from the field against the Titans last year in a game Gonzaga won, 83-57. Rogers went to the sidelines in early December because of a fractured foot.

Even without him, Gonzaga probably will be a difficult assignment on the road for the Titans, though Fullerton already has won three of four road games. That includes an 80-73 victory at Montana, where Long Beach State, a more heralded Big West rival, lost this past weekend, 80-70.

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Fullerton’s record is second-best in the Big West through last weekend’s games.

Only Pacific (6-1), which appears to be emerging as the strongest team in the conference, has fewer losses.

First-year Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar, whose team lost to Pacific at home by two points, calls Pacific “one of best two teams we’ve played,” along with Syracuse, but he thinks the Titans will be competitive when the teams meet in Fullerton’s first conference game Jan. 11 at Titan Gym.

“Fullerton definitely will be in the game when they play,” Romar said. “Fullerton will be in the tough games.”

Romar was impressed with the way Fullerton battled back from an eight-point deficit in the second half despite what was not one of the Titans’ better efforts. Fullerton shot only 25.9% in the first half, finishing at 37.3%.

Hawking says the Titans’ below-par play probably was partly because of the distractions of a busy week of final exams.

“Their concentration has to be on that, and they need to perform well there, too,” Hawking said. “We cut back on some of the things we normally do because of the exams.”

Guard Chris Dade said that probably was a factor in his off night. Dade was only three for 10 from the field and finished with seven points, well below his 16.6 average.

“I felt really exhausted after finals,” Dade said. “I guess I was already looking forward to the Christmas break. My mind wasn’t really into the game the way it usually is. “

The Titan baseball team begins practice Jan. 6, and Coach George Horton says outfielder Ryan Fullerton will be questionable because of a previous knee injury aggravated this fall.

“He’s going to try and play on it, and put off any surgery, but we’ll just have to see how he does in January,” Horton said. “It’s apparently an old football injury he’s had since high school, but it’s gotten somewhat worse.”

Horton and his assistants, Dave Serrano and Rick Vanderhook, have completed recruiting for the early-signing period, though the Titans probably will add a few players in the spring.

Fullerton signed 12, including five pitchers.

“I think Dave and Rick did a good job of identifying the kind of players we want in our program,” Horton said. “We didn’t get everyone we went after, but you never do. But we feel it’s a good, well-rounded group. We still think we need another left-handed pitcher, and possibly another catcher, depending on whether Mike Wright is drafted and signs after this season.”