Titans Crumble Under Boise Pressure

Boise State has been the best defensive team in the Big West Conference this season, and the Broncos showed why again Thursday night against Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans had to shoot 61% from the field just to stay close in the first half.

Fullerton couldn’t match that in the second half, and the Broncos hammered out a 77-60 victory in the opening round of the conference tournament at the Lawlor Center.

“Their pressure defense was very effective,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “They took us out of a lot of the things we wanted to do. They seemed to come up with every loose ball, and that’s a credit to them and their will to win. We just didn’t get the shots we needed to win.”

The loss gives Fullerton (13-14) its sixth consecutive losing season, five under Hawking. Boise State (20-7), the top-seeded team from the Eastern Division, moves on to tonight’s semifinals against Long Beach State.

“They just outplayed us this time,” Titan guard Jason Cunningham said. “It seems like every time we’d come back and get close they’d come up with a couple of big plays or get a break.”

It ended a stretch of three consecutive close games between the teams. Fullerton had eliminated the Broncos in last season’s tournament with a seven-point victory.

Fullerton held swingman Roberto Bergersen, the conference’s player of the year, to 15 points, but the Broncos also shut down Ike Harmon in the second half. Harmon scored 13 points in the first half but managed only one field goal in the second half to finish with 15 points.

“You feel like you have a chance when you hold Bergersen to 15 points, but their other guys stepped up,” Hawking said.

Gerry Washington scored 16 points, drilling five of seven three-point shots, and freshmen Richard Morgan and Abe Jackson had big games. Morgan was five of seven from the field for 14 points, and Jackson had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Morgan and Jackson had scored only a combined three points in Boise State’s one-point victory over the Titans earlier in Boise.

Only Harmon and Cunningham, who scored 10 points, reached double figures for the Titans. “It seemed like in the second half they were looking past me,” Harmon said. “In the first half we were able to pound the ball inside, but in the second half we couldn’t seem to do it.”

Point guard Kenroy Jarrett said he was having trouble getting the ball to the forwards. “They’re a tough defensive team, and they showed us some new tricks,” Jarrett said.

Titan guard Mark Murphy was three of 12 from the field and one of nine on three-point shots.

“We probably didn’t get the ball to Harmon as much as we should have in the second half,” Hawking said.

Boise State Coach Rod Jensen said the Broncos didn’t increase their attention on Harmon in the second half.

“We stayed within our team concept of defense,” Jensen said. “I thought we played well in the first half, but they wouldn’t go away. In the second half, we hit a couple of threes, and that got us going defensively. They’re a pesky team.”

Boise State led 34-30 at halftime, and Washington hit two three-point shots to lift the Broncos to a 51-39 lead.

Fullerton had 21 fouls to 14 for Boise State, which made 17 of 23 free throws compared to six in nine attempts for the Titans. The Broncos also had a 32-24 rebounding advantage and shot 55.3% from the game. Fullerton shot only 35.5% in the second half.

“It helped a lot for us to have four other guys scoring in double figures,” Bergersen said. “That way I don’t feel like I have to score 30 points for us to win.”