Fullerton Goes in Front Door

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

Instead, the Titans charged in with the No. 2 seeding in the Western Division with a 76-70 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night in the UCSB Events Center at Goleta.

“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 the Gauchos in the conference’s tiebreaker formula.

Fullerton (11-15) finished 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.

The loss ended the coaching career of Jerry Pimm at Santa Barbara. Pimm announced Friday that he was taking a 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 defeats since the 1977-78 season.

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.