Poor Shooting Dooms Titans

Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking knew his team would need to shoot well from the outside to beat Nevada.

That didn’t happen, however, and Hawking’s Titans lost to Nevada, 71-59, in front of 5,283 fans Saturday night at the Lawlor Events Center.

The loss dropped the Titans to 11-11 and 4-8 in the Western Division of the Big West Conference. Nevada is 15-7 and 9-3 in the Big West’s Eastern Division to remain tied for first place with Utah State. Nevada improved to 10-1 at home; Fullerton is 5-6 on the road.

The Titans made just 33% of their shots from three-point range (9 of 27), but even more telling was their overall shooting in the second half. The Titans made only seven of 29 shots from the field (24.1%) after halftime.

“We at times are too perimeter-oriented,” Hawking said. “You live by the sword, you die by the sword. We just didn’t have enough inside scoring to get the offensive balance we needed.”

The blame for that, in part, lies with the absence of senior forward John Williams, who fractured a bone in his right wrist Jan. 23 against Utah State. Williams had been averaging 17.6 points and 6.9 rebounds.

“We haven’t been able to replace those kind of numbers,” Hawking said.

The Titans were forced to start the game with a three-guard set--Chris Dade, Ali Nayab and Chris St. Clair. Combined, they made only seven of 28 shots from the floor. Dade, who led the team with 15 points, made just three of 15 field-goal attempts.

The Titans’ starting post players--forward DeVaughn Wright and center Mark Richardson--combined for six points.

Nevada received big numbers from starting forwards Paul Culbertson (22 points and six rebounds) and Faron Hand (14 points and 12 rebounds).

“Culbertson busted us,” Hawking said. “We did a pretty good job on [the Wolf Pack’s other three starters], but Culbertson was the villain for us.”

Nevada led, 35-32, at the half, primarily because the Titans didn’t make their free throws and the Wolf Pack did. The Titans were eight of 15 shots from the line in the first half; the Pack made 13 of 14.

However, the Titans did a bang-up job on Hand in the first half, holding the Big West Conference’s third-leading scorer to just two points on three shot attempts. Hand also had but three rebounds in the half.

But the second half was a different story as Hand scored 12 points--all from close range.