Titans Fall Short Against New Mexico State

Cal State Fullerton came so close to a victory over New Mexico State Thursday night that it was all the more agonizing for the Titans when it slipped away.

Fullerton, playing its fourth consecutive game without injured scoring and rebounding leader John Williams, had a nine-point lead with 3 1/2 minutes left. But that wasn’t enough.

New Mexico State (12-7, 6-3) scored the game’s last 13 points and picked up its fifth consecutive victory, 76-72, in front of 1,014 in Titan Gym. It marked the first time this season that Fullerton (10-9, 3-6) has lost three in a row.

Antoine Hubbard’s three-point basket with 51 seconds left wiped out a one-point Fullerton lead and put the Aggies ahead to stay following two other crucial three-pointers by Denmark Reid.

“I thought we had it,” Titan guard Chris Dade said. “But then Reid made those two big three-pointers. He showed that he could make the big shots.”

Guard Chris St. Clair also was shocked by the turnaround. “I wish we could have made a couple of defensive stops there at the end, but we didn’t get them,” St. Clair said. “But we need to figure out a way to get it done without John. They exploited our lack of inside presence.”

The Titans got 52 of their points from their three starting guards. St. Clair scored a career-high 22 points, Dade had 20, and Ali Nayab added 10. Forward Louis Richardson had 21 points for the Aggies, and Reid finished with 18, including a career-high six three-pointers in 10 attempts.

Despite the collapse, Fullerton still had a chance to regain the lead with eight seconds left, but reserve Dane Plock missed a slightly off-balance three-point shot.

“That was exactly the play we called,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “Dane has been consistent all year, and we thought he’d get the best look of anyone on the floor at that point. We expected them to be really be on Dade and St. Clair. That might have won the game for us if it had gone in.”

But the shot rimmed off, and Hubbard added two free throws with five seconds left.

“It doesn’t get any tougher than that one in terms of being in position to win and not finishing it off,” Hawking said. “We really struggled those last few minutes, but New Mexico State is good. They have nice balance and a good perimeter game. For the most part, we handled their zone trap well, but ran down in the stretch.”

Dade had a chance to put the Titans back in control with Fullerton still leading, 72-71, but he missed a three-point try from the corner, and Richardson rebounded to set the stage for Hubbard’s go-ahead three-pointer. Dade had another chance to tie the game soon afterward, but missed again along the base line.

The Aggies shot 55.1% from the field compared to 50% for the Titans. New Mexico State made 12 of 24 three-point shots. Fullerton was 11 of 28 with St. Clair six for nine from beyond the arc.

“We played a good last three minutes,” New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy said, “but I’d say that Fullerton outplayed us for about 27 minutes of the game, although we did a good job of getting the ball inside for most of the game.”

McCarthy said he was impressed with Fullerton’s effort, especially on defense.

“They were tough, especially for not having their big man,” McCarthy said. “I have a lot of respect for the job Bob is doing.”

The loss left Fullerton with a 5-4 record at home and 0-4 against teams from the Eastern Division going into Saturday night’s home game against North Texas.