Williams’ Surprise Return Fails to Inspire Fullerton

John Williams hoped he might be an inspiration.

As it turned out, Williams was only one more struggling player for Cal State Fullerton Friday night when he made a surprise return after being on the sidelines for 11 games with a broken wrist.

Nevada brushed aside the Titans and Williams with a 19-2 run at the start of an easy 80-55 victory in the first round of the Big West Conference men’s basketball tournament in front of 7,385 at Nevada’s Lawlor Events Center.

“I just wanted to give it a go and try to help the team, but unfortunately I think I hurt them more than I helped them,” Williams said.

Williams, who was averaging 17.6 points before being injured, came off the bench 4 1/2 minutes into the game, played 17 minutes and scored seven points, four of them on two uncontested layups late in the game.

“Williams was not a factor,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster said. “You can’t be out as long as he was and play the way he did before he was injured. Our fast start took them out of it. It was a combination of us playing a good game and them not hitting the basket.”

The Titans shot only 19% from the floor in the first half and managed only 15 points, six fewer than their worst half of the regular season. Fullerton made only five of 26 shots from the field and missed all 10 shots from three-point range in the half.

Fullerton shot 35% for the game to 51.6% for the Wolf Pack. Nevada had a 47-33 rebounding advantage.

Nevada, which has won 13 of 14 games this season on its home court, had four players score in double figures, led by Big West player of the year Faron Hand’s 16 points. Guards Jimmy Carroll and Richard Brown each had 11. Only guard Ali Nayab (14 points) reached double figures for Fullerton. Guard Chris Dade, who had scored 14 points or more in his last 12 games, made only four of 13 shots from the field and finished with nine points.

The victory advances Nevada (19-8) to the semifinals tonight against New Mexico State, which defeated Long Beach State in the first round Friday.

The Titans ended their season at 13-14, and are winless in their last seven first-round games in the conference tournament. But this loss was Fullerton’s worst of the year.

“It was one of those nights,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “I guess we saved our worst for last. We’ve been a pretty good shooting team this season, especially from the perimeter, but it was like there was a lid on the basket in the first half.”

Hawking said he still hoped the Titans might come back after falling behind by 17 points less than nine minutes into the game.

“It never really got much better in the first half, and we were in too deep a hole to dig our way out. We were hoping to get it inside 10 in the second half, but we never were able to accomplish that,” he said.

Williams said he was limited in what he was able to do, especially when he went against Hand, a muscular 6-7 forward.

“I had to try to block him with my left hand, and that was a problem when he’d catch me with it across my body,” Williams said.

Hawking said the decision that Williams would try to play wasn’t made until earlier Friday. The cast on his right wrist was removed Wednesday afternoon.

“I was just hoping I could get the team up to play,” Williams said. “Today was my birthday, and I wanted to be with the guys.”