Old Neighbor Sanders Leads San Jose Past Cal State Fullerton

Ben Sanders called it “sort of payback time.”

San Jose State and Sanders overwhelmed Cal State Fullerton, 84-59, Sunday in the Events Center, and Sanders took particular delight in the Spartans’ fifth consecutive victory.

It’s no wonder.

“Fullerton didn’t recruit me--with me just down the road,” said Sanders, who played last season at Fullerton College after two years at Nevada Las Vegas. “I didn’t think they really wanted me.”

Sanders got his revenge with a season-high 20 points against the Titans.

Sanders, a 6-foot-4 junior guard who played at Westchester High, scored the last seven points of the first half to give the Spartans a 36-30 lead, then added five more in a 13-0 San Jose State run at the start of the second half.

Sanders had 14 points in a span of 5 minutes 35 seconds when San Jose State (7-4) took control.

“That run at the start of the second half was the separation point,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “The difference in the game was their quickness and their strength inside.”

The Spartans received a game-high 22 points from forward Shaun Murray and 15 from center Will Trawick to control things inside.

Fullerton (6-4) had only a combined 22 points from its three starters along the front line. Ike Harmon, who was in early foul trouble and played only 21 minutes, finished with 12 points. Jason Cunningham had six points and Mark Richardson four. Guard Mark Murphy led the Titans with 13.

San Jose State controlled rebounding, 39-26. The Titans were hurt by the absence of center Matt Caldwell, who was sitting out an automatic one-game suspension after being ejected from Tuesday night’s game against Quincy (Ill.).

But that didn’t account for the Titans’ 26 turnovers, including five during San Jose State’s surge at the start of the second half. Sanders also stole the ball twice during that stretch.

“We’re just not handling the pressure right now,” said Titan guard Kenroy Jarrett, who had eight turnovers. “They know our plays as well as we do, but we’re not counteracting that.”

Jarrett was held to four points and also struggled when he was guarding Sanders, who is five inches taller. “Kenroy was giving up a lot against a guy 6-4,” Hawking said. “Our guys have to be able to deal with the physicalness of the game, and make better decisions.”

Sanders was hardly an unknown to several Titans. Jarrett said he, Harmon and Cunningham played against Sanders frequently in pickup games at Titan Gym and at Fullerton College after he transferred from UNLV in the summer of 1997.

“He played kind of sleepy then,” Jarrett said. “He wasn’t explosive the way he was today. We played a whole lot together and Jason knew him from when they were both at UNLV.”

Sanders said he left UNLV after redshirting his sophomore year because he questioned how much he would be playing the following season. “They recruited above me,” Sanders said.

San Jose State Coach Phil Johnson thought Sanders’ effort was one of the keys to the ease of the victory. “He’s our best open-court player,” Johnson said. “We seem to get fastbreak baskets when he gets the rebound.”

Neither team shot well from the field in the first half, but San Jose State came back to shoot 57.6% in the second half and 47.7% for the game. Fullerton finished at 40.5%.

The victory was the Spartans’ fourth in a row against Fullerton. This was the first meeting of the teams since San Jose State left the Big West for the Western Athletic Conference.