Titans Roll Into Tournament With Win Over the Gauchos

Cal State Fullerton didn’t need to look over its shoulder for help to reach the Big West basketball postseason tournament.

Instead, the Titans charged in with the No. 2 seeding in the Western Division after a 76-70 victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday night in the UCSB Events Center. “It was a good effort with our backs sort of against the wall,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said.

Had Fullerton lost to Santa Barbara, the Titans would have had to rely on Pacific’s victory over Long Beach State to make the field ahead of Santa Barbara in the conference’s complicated tiebreaker formula. The victory means the Titans will play the Eastern Division’s third-seeded team in their first game in Reno. That opponent will be either New Mexico State or Boise State, depending on the outcome of today’s remaining game between Nevada and New Mexico State.

Fullerton (11-15) finishes the regular season in a two-way tie with UC Irvine for third place in the division, each with 6-10 records. Second-place Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is ineligible for the tournament this season.

The Gauchos’ loss made it the final game for Jerry Pimm as Santa Barbara’s head coach. Pimm announced Friday that he was taking another job as an assistant to the athletic director after 15 seasons.

The loss was the Gauchos’ eighth in a row--the longest losing streak in Pimm’s tenure at the school--and left Santa Barbara’s record at 7-19, the program’s most losses since the 1977-78 season.

“We played some very good basketball at times in a difficult environment, with it being senior night for their players and [Pimm] going out as coach,” Hawking said.

A 26-point effort by sophomore Ike Harmon and 22 points from senior Chris Dade helped the Titans overcome Raymond Tutt’s season-high 31-point performance and gain a split with the Gauchos for the season.

“I would have hated to think what would have happened if Dade hadn’t been on Tutt,” Hawking said. Fullerton tried to deny him the ball, but he still attempted 21 shots, making 13. “That’s why he’s such a great player,” Dade said.

Dade also had a good night, hitting nine of 15 shots from the field, including some strong moves to the basket for layups in traffic. Harmon also had a game-high 12 rebounds to help Fullerton to a 46-37 advantage for the game. Harmon had had five of Fullerton’s 16 offensive rebounds.

“We’d better get some offensive rebounds when we shoot 43% from the field,” Hawking said. “Harmon had a solid game.

Harmon scored Fullerton’s first six points and had 15 in the first half. Dade had 14 points before the break and the Titans led at halftime, 41-37, after leading by nine points earlier.

Harmon had a seven-point surge, including two hard-fought rebound baskets, that restored a nine-point lead early in the second half and the Titans led by as much as 10 points with slightly more than six minutes to play.

Fullerton put the game away in the final two minutes when guard Chris St. Clair drove for a pair of layups with the court open up the middle.

“I thought our defense was the key more than anything else,” Harmon said. “It was a good night for us. It will give us some momentum going into the conference tournament.”

Titan forward Mark Richardson said he was pleased that the Titans were able to advance on a victory. “It was in our hands, and we got the job done. And it’s really nice that we’re going to have a chance to play a third-seeded team. We should be competitive with them.”