Poised Fullerton Beats Brown

On Saturday night against Cal State Fullerton, Brown didn’t look much like a basketball team that has won only once this season.

But, for much of the game, Fullerton didn’t look like a team that has put together the second-best record in the Big West Conference in nonconference games.

As it turned out, however, Fullerton showed just enough poise down the stretch to turn back Brown, 61-57, in front of 1,777 in Titan Gym.

The Titans made five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds, two of two by Chris Dade and three of four by Ali Nayab, to go with John Williams’ game-high 20 points.

“Our kids haven’t folded their tent at crunch time this season, and they didn’t again,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “It wasn’t an artistic game, but I thought Brown did a great job against us. Their kids played with a lot of savvy. They’ve played a tough schedule, but they’ve been competitive, and they certainly were competitive against us.”

Fullerton (6-2) had only six wins in 26 games last season. Saturday’s victory marks the first time the Titans have won six of their first eight since the 1990-91 season. Brown fell to 1-7.

The Titans made the most of a meager offensive effort. Guard Chris St. Clair was the only other Titan to score in double figures. He had 10 points.

Fullerton shot only 38.3% from the field. The Titans made only two of their first nine shots from the floor and nine of 28 (32.1%) in the first half but led, 22-20, at the break. The Bears didn’t do much better in the first half, shooting 35% from the field, although they improved to 44.7% for the game.