Titans Manage to Win Their 5th in a Row

It won’t go down as one of Cal State Fullerton’s most impressive efforts of the season, but it was a victory, and that was about all that mattered to the Titans.

After all, Fullerton hadn’t won five consecutive games since the 1990-91 season.

The Titans (5-1) made it five in a row Thursday night in Titan Gym, holding on for a 73-67 victory over Montana State that kept them unbeaten since a season-opening loss at Kansas State. The Titans, off to their best start in six years, won despite shooting 33% from the floor in the second half.

“This team is going to find a way to win,” point guard Kenroy Jarrett said. “There are going to be times when you don’t have a great shooting night. But who cares if you win?”

Guard Mark Murphy, normally one of Fullerton’s most consistent shooters, made only three of 12 shots from the field, but connected on a key three-pointer with 1 minute 20 seconds left that gave Fullerton a seven-point lead. It was his only field goal of the second half and only three-pointer of the game.

From there, the Titans were able to coast in.

“My shots all felt good, but everything was rimming out,” Murphy said. “On that one, Coach ran a play for me, and I buried it.”

Montana State (4-3) struggled even more than Fullerton did in the final seven minutes, scoring only five points, all on free throws.

Ike Harmon, still recovering from spraining his left ankle twice this season, led the Titans with 19 points. Harmon was seven of 17 from the field with seven rebounds.

Jarrett was six of 12 shooting and had 14 points. Mark Richardson and Jason Cunningham each had 12 points for the Titans. Cunningham led the Titans in rebounds with eight, with Richardson getting seven.

The Titans finished with a 36-35 rebounding edge, which pleased Coach Bob Hawking.

“That’s the fourth game in a row we’ve outrebounded our opponent, and I don’t think we’ve done that four times in a row during my tenure,” said Hawking, in his fifth season at Fullerton.

Hawking also was pleased with the effort turned in on defense against Montana State’s rugged 6-foot-8 Nate Holmstadt. Holmstadt scored 18 points, but that was six below his average and made only six of 16 shots from the field.

“Holmstadt got some point-blank shots,” Hawking said. “He’s a load. Holding him as well as we did isn’t all that bad.”

Hawking gave Richardson and center Matt Caldwell credit for their defense on Holmstadt. Caldwell was slowed by a pulled groin muscle from the game against St. Mary’s last weekend.

Montana State was the first team to shoot better than 40% from the floor against the Titans, at 44%, despite its troubles late in the game. Fullerton finished at 43.8%.

The Titans got off to a good start, building a 12-4 cushion in the first three minutes. Montana State came back to cut the deficit to a point at 33-32, but Cunningham drilled a three-pointer and Harmon dropped in a jump shot to keep Fullerton rolling to a 45-38 halftime lead.