Boise State Gets a Jump on Titans

It came down to strength against strength.

In the final frenzied seconds, it was Roberto Bergersen, Boise State’s best shooter, against Chris Dade, Cal State Fullerton’s best defender.

And Bergersen’s 20-foot jump shot slid into the net at the buzzer Saturday night to give Boise State a 76-74 Big West Conference victory over Fullerton in front of 1,178 in Titan Gym.

It was another agonizing defeat for the Titans, who have lost three Big West games by a total of seven points, including the last two at home. And nobody felt any worse about the latest loss than Dade.

“I thought I had him stopped,” said Dade, looking emotionally drained by the Titans’ fourth consecutive close game. “I had him on the drive. I knew he wanted to take me to the middle or the side, but he got off the fallaway jumper. He made a good shot for his team.”

Bergersen, the Big West’s leading scorer, said he was fortunate. “They cut me off, so I just tried to get off a shot and it fell,” Bergersen said. “This was a big one for us.”

The victory lifted Boise State to 11-6, 3-1 in the conference and took away some of the sting from the Broncos’ loss to UC Irvine Thursday.

Bergersen, seven of 11 from the field and three for six on three-point shots, finished with 21 points. Dade had 19 and was eight of 13 from the floor. Sophomore Ike Harmon led the Titans (6-8, 1-3) with 21 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Guard Chris St. Clair had 11 points, but eight of those came at the free-throw line.

Harmon made two free throws to give the Titans a 71-71 tie with 1 minute 26 seconds left, but Boise State regained the lead at 74-71 on a three-point play by Mike Hagman. Then a three-point shot by Craig Whitehead gave Fullerton a tie with 32 seconds remaining.

That set the stage for the winning basket.

“Dade was right there on Bergersen, but he’s an outstanding player,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “It’s not that we didn’t make the play. We made the play and he made the play . . . It’s a fine line.”

But that didn’t make it any easier for the Titans.

“That was another really rough one,” Harmon said. “We played hard. Our guys didn’t deserve to lose that one. But [Bergersen] made a good shot. The chips just didn’t fall our way this time.”

Hawking said he had no complaints with his team’s play. “We put together a winning effort in terms of execution,” he said. “But things have a way of evening themselves out. We just need to keep on working and create our own rub of the green. We could easily be 4-0 in the conference right now. That’s been the caliber of the four games we’ve played.”

Fullerton’s only conference victory was by two points at North Texas.

Neither team was able to gain more than a three-point lead in a spirited first half that ended in a 36-36 tie.

The Titans were successful working the ball inside to Harmon early in the game. Dade also was effective on the fast break and made two of three three-pointers for 12 points in the first half.

Boise State, however, scored the first seven points in the second half, and the Titans didn’t catch up again until 6 1/2 minutes remained.

“We just have to make some plays to get over the hump,” Hawking said. “Somehow we’ve got to get some stops on defense when the game is on the line. But there’s a lot of the Big West season left to go. We’ll be all right.”