Titans Have Made Strides This Year

Coach Bob Hawking billed this as a breakthrough season for his Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team, and it has turned out to be that, regardless of what happens in this week’s Big West Conference tournament.

The Titans finished the regular season 13-13. That’s the most victories at Fullerton since Brad Holland’s first team went 15-12 in the 1992-93 season. The victory total also equals the number of games Fullerton won the previous two seasons.

That, even though the team’s top scorer and rebounder, John Williams, was sidelined for the last 11 games because of a broken wrist.

“It’s difficult to speculate, but I think we might have won as many as three or four more games with him in the lineup,” Hawking said.

The Titans were 9-6 with Williams, and are 4-7 without him. Two of the victories with Williams out, however, were against UC Irvine, which won only one game.

“You don’t lose a player like John without it having a big impact,” Hawking said. “We put a lot of emphasis in our offense on getting the ball to John, sometimes at the expense of other guys, and when he was hurt, it was a big adjustment. It’s taken a while for our players to come back from that.”

But Fullerton played some of its best basketball in victories over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara last weekend at home.

The key was improved shooting. The Titans shot 60% from the field and 53% on three-point attempts against San Luis Obispo, and 47% from the field and 44% on three-pointers against Santa Barbara. They shot 35% or below from the floor in the three previous games they lost on the road.

Santa Barbara, which has the conference’s leading scorer in Raymond Tutt, beat the Titans in January in Santa Barbara when Williams was still playing. Williams picked up four first-half fouls and missed about half of that game.

“Fullerton is playing real well right now,” Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said. “[Hawking] has done a nice job of getting them back together after losing Williams.”

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The Titans face a daunting challenge in the conference tournament tonight against host Nevada, the top-seeded team from the Eastern Division. Nevada has won eight of its last 10 games, and is 12-1 at home.

Nevada, which finished in a three-way tie for first place with New Mexico State and Utah State, defeated the Titans, 71-59, in mid-February in Reno. It was Nevada’s sixth consecutive victory over the Titans.

“We had only one day to prepare for them the last time, and we were still trying to find our way without Williams at that point,” Hawking said.

Nevada Coach Pat Foster has been pleased. “We’ve played as well down the stretch as we have at any time all season,” Foster said.

The Wolf Pack has the conference’s player of the year and third-leading scorer in Faron Hand. “He’s a load for anyone to handle,” Hawking said. “We’ll try to limit his touches, but they have several other people who can hurt you.”

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The women’s basketball team (10-16, 5-10 in the Big West) finished in fifth place in the conference and failed to qualify for the postseason tournament for the second year in a row.

The Titans won five of their first six games, then lost 11 of their next 12. They came back to win four in a row after that, then lost their final four games.

Coach Deborah Ayres blamed the inconsistency on the team’s inexperience. “Youth, that’s what I think the reason is,” Ayres said. “We were learning all year.”

Fullerton had only one senior, Kim Cram, and started three sophomores and a junior. Sophomore Dee Braxton led the conference in rebounding and steals. Sophomore Andrea Thieme was sixth in scoring at 14.8.

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The baseball team opens Big West play this weekend with a revamped pitching rotation for a three-game series against Long Beach State.

The Titans will start Matt Wise (1-2, 3.82 earned-run average) tonight, Brian Tokarse (3-0, 2.22) Saturday night and Brandon Duckworth (3-0, 4.10) on Sunday.

The shuffle moves Scott Hild (1-3, 6.83), the only returning starter from last year, out of the weekend rotation. Pitching coach Dave Serrano said Hild will be the No. 4 starter, and also will be used in relief.

Duckworth was moved into the starting rotation after being used as the closer early in the season. “We’ll probably still use him to close [tonight] if we’re in a winning one-inning situation,” Serrano said.

Mike Greenlee (3-0) and Tim Baron (0-1) will move into the late-inning relief slots.

The Titans are ranked 20th this week by Baseball America and 14th by Collegiate Baseball.

Titan Notes

The fencing team advanced to the Western Regionals of the NCAA Tournament Saturday and Sunday at Caltech. The men’s team has a record of 15-6, 10-0 in the Intercollegiate Fencing Conference of Southern California. The women’s team is 10-15, 8-2. If the Titans win this weekend, they advance to the national championships March 20-23 at the Air Force Academy. . . . The wrestling team was eighth in the nine-team Pac-10 championships at Tempe, Ariz., Monday. Orlando deCastroverde was second at 118 pounds and qualified automatically for the NCAA championships, March 20, at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Steve Duran was fourth at 158 pounds and also was chosen for the nationals. . . . The women’s gymnastics team had its best score of the season (192.15) despite finishing fourth among four teams in a meet at UCLA Sunday. UCLA was first, followed by Washington and Boise State. Katy Maty had her best all-around score of the season, as well as her best performance on the vault.

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key upcoming games for Cal State Fullerton:

* Men’s basketball tonight against Nevada at the Big West Conference tournament, Lawlor Events Center, 6 p.m.

* Track, Ben Brown Invitational meet 10 a.m. Saturday, at Titan Track Complex.

* Baseball, at Long Beach State tonight and Saturday at 7 p.m., and 1 p.m. Sunday, Blair Field.