Titans Find Road Is Longer With Jarrett on the Bench

Cal State Fullerton has had a difficult time winning on the road this season with all its players healthy.

But it became even more difficult for the Titans Thursday night at Nevada with point guard Kenroy Jarrett on the sideline with a broken bone in his right hand. He is expected to be out for the rest of the season.

Nevada took no pity on the Titans. The Wolf Pack unleashed a barrage of three-point baskets and ran past Fullerton, 89-77, in front of 5,658 in Lawlor Center. It was the Titans’ ninth loss in 11 road games and the fourth consecutive victory for Nevada (8-13, 4-7). Fullerton fell to 11-10, 5-6 in the Big West.

Derrick Anderson set a school record with nine three-point shots in 13 attempts and scored a career-high 31 points to lead Nevada. The Wolf Pack made 15 of 24 (62.5%) from three-point range, tying a school record. It also tied the Fullerton record for most three-pointers by an opponent.

But the Titans, trying to stay in the running for one of four spots from their division in the conference postseason tournament, had to be even more concerned about their future, facing the prospect of five regular-season games left without Jarrett.

“The medical people say Kenroy will have to be out three to four weeks, and that’s the rest of the season,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “We just have to leave that kind of decision to the experts. We have to move on now and assume that he won’t be with us.”

Jarrett injured the hand in the Titan victory Saturday at UC Irvine and tests this week determined the seriousness of the injury.

“It didn’t seem to be that serious at the time,” Hawking said. “He came back and played in the second half, but the X-rays this week showed the break.”

Jarrett’s absence forced Mark Murphy and Jason Cunningham to share time at point guard.

“It was a big adjustment for both of us,” Cunningham said. “Our offense thrives on Kenroy penetrating with the basketball, and we just had to do the best we could without much time to prepare for it. But it was our defense than hurt us tonight more than our offense.”

Matt Caldwell had 19 points to lead Fullerton, with Cunningham getting 18 and Ike Harmon 17. But the Titans weren’t able to keep pace with Nevada’s shooting from outside, especially by Anderson.

“Derrick had a great game,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster said. “He’s hit well before, but nothing like that. And he wasn’t that wide open all the time.”

But he was open too often to suit Hawking.

“Nine three-pointers in one game is a tremendous effort,” Hawking said. “Anderson got off to a good start and didn’t stop. But we could have done a better job guarding him on some of them. They had a great shooting night. You don’t have too many nights the way they did.”

Fullerton shot 41% from the floor, and made four of 17 from three-point range.

But Hawking thought the Jarrett’s absence took its toll. “It was huge,” Hawking said. “He makes a big difference in everything we do offensively. This is the second time in three years that we’ve lost a key player with a hand injury.” John Williams, the Titans’ top scorer, was injured in the Big West season two years ago.

But Nevada took control of this game early. Anderson connected on three early three-pointers to get the Wolf Pack rolling, and Nevada went on an 11-5 run midway through the first half to build a 28-11 cushion.

The Titans, however, finally got in gear for a while late in the first half to close the gap to 39-31 at halftime. Cunningham drilled a pair of three-point shots, and Harmon got a fast-break stuff off a steal by Josh Helbig for a string of eight consecutive points.

Three-pointers by John Burrell and Anderson got Nevada back in gear in the second half, and Nevada stayed in control the rest of the way.