Men Sneak Up on Winning Basketball Season

Don’t look now, but that’s the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team with a shot at a winning season. And that hasn’t happened at Fullerton since 1992-93, when Brad Holland’s first team was 15-12.

The Titans (12-10, 6-6 in the Big West) have four conference games left, and a split would assure them a winning overall record.

Coach Bob Hawking said before the season started this team would improve over last year’s 12-16 record, and it looks as though he’s right.

But the Titans could still be left at home when the Big West postseason tournament begins in Reno.

The top four teams in each division advance to the tournament. Fullerton is in fourth place in the Western Division, a game ahead of fifth-place Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (10-13, 5-7). The Titans also are only one game behind second-place Pacific (12-10, 7-5) and a half-game behind third-place Long Beach State (10-13, 7-6).

“We’re still hoping to do better than fourth,” Hawking said.

The Titans play at Pacific Thursday and at Long Beach State Saturday, then return home for games against San Luis Obispo and surprise division leader UC Santa Barbara (11-11, 9-3).

The key for the Titans will be how well they adjust to the loss of point guard Kenroy Jarrett, out because of a broken bone in his right hand.

With Jarrett sidelined last week, the Titans were beaten at Nevada, 89-77, and won by seven points against a UC Irvine team they had beaten by 17 points a week earlier at Irvine.

The Titans were more effective and Mark Murphy appeared more settled as Jarrett’s replacement at point guard on Saturday.

“It’s a different chemistry and it takes some time for a new chemistry to develop,” said assistant coach Todd Johnson, who works with the guards. “There’s no doubt that Murphy moving to point guard from the off-guard changes the way he has to do things, but he’s a good enough player to adjust for that. We just have to work to make sure he still gets his shots.”

Jarrett’s strengths are his quickness and his ability to drive inside, while Murphy is at his best as a three-point shooter.

“There’s not that much of a difference in them,” forward Ike Harmon said. “But Mark might be a step slower than Kenroy. Irvine tried to trap him a lot. Kenroy would have blown right past them.”

Jarrett hopes he can play again this season, at least in time for the conference tournament, but that appears to be a longshot.

“It’s normally a four-week healing process for a fracture like Kenroy has,” trainer Chris Mumaw said. “If it goes like we think it will, he’ll probably be cleared right after the tournament is over. Kenroy’s desire to get back and play this season is admirable, but it doesn’t look good for that happening. It’s unfortunate.”

The loss of Jarrett hurts, particularly from a depth standpoint at guard, but there also have been some encouraging signs.

The new lineup with Harmon at small forward and Matt Caldwell and Mark Richardson inside has been an improvement. Harmon has more opportunity to drive to the basket and take advantage of his quickness. Harmon scored a career-high 33 points against Irvine.

Caldwell also has become more of a force inside on offense, and freshmen Josh Fischer, Brandon Campbell and Josh Helbig continue to improve.

But the Titans can’t afford more distractions like the one Saturday, when Jason Cunningham was held out of the game, apparently because he showed up late for shoot-around earlier in the day.

PITCHING DEVELOPS

Pitching is the big question mark for the Titan baseball team this season, but after seven games it’s beginning to come more into focus.

Matt Sorensen’s effort Sunday against Fresno State gave the Titans promise of four solid starting pitchers. Sorensen gave up six hits and three runs, two of them earned, in Fullerton’s 8-4 victory.

Sorensen started Sunday ahead of Jon Smith to give Smith more preparation after a preseason groin injury. Smith is scheduled to start Wednesday night’s game at USC.

“It will be tough call about who our three weekend starters will be if Matt continues to pitch the way he has,” Coach George Horton said.

Smith has made only one brief appearance in relief this season, giving up three hits and two runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Sophomore Adam Johnson, who was the Titan closer last season, has been particularly effective. Johnson (2-0) has given up only seven hits in 13 1/3 innings and has struck out 18.

Another sophomore starter, Jordan DeJong, has been promising. DeJong (1-0) has given up 10 hits and four runs, two of them earned, in 10 innings. He has struck out 11 but walked eight.

Horton and pitching coach Dave Serrano have been leaning toward developing a four-man rotation so they have a set starter for mid-week games. Those single games against such teams as USC, Arizona State, UCLA, Pepperdine and San Diego State are as important as the weekend series in gaining national recognition.

“You always wonder which is the best direction to go after the conference season starts,” Horton said. “Should you plan on using several people in the mid-week game and have them all ready for the weekend conference games, or have one guy pitching a lot in the midweek game and not being available for the weekend?”