Titans Can’t Bring Home a Victory

Cal State Fullerton had the opportunity to be alone in second place in the Big West Conference’s Western Division Thursday night, but the Titans let it slip away.

Pacific ended Fullerton’s six-game home-court winning streak, holding on for a 59-54 victory after the Titans had cut the lead to two points with 18 seconds left.

The Tigers’ Nathan Davis made one of two free throws three seconds later, but the Titans faltered after they rebounded the miss. Mark Murphy reached three-point territory, but Davis knocked the ball away. Guard Clay McKnight fell on it and called timeout, keeping Pacific in control.

“They switched on me, and Davis made a good play,” Murphy said. “I slipped a little when I came off the pick, and couldn’t get a shot off.”

Fullerton never seemed to get it all together in the second half, even though the Titans stayed even with Pacific in rebounding.

“It was a game we really needed to win,” Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the job done. We got stagnant offensively at times, and we had some lulls on both offense and defense.”

Pacific (9-10, 4-3) shot 45.3% to 42.3% for the Titans (8-10, 3-4).

Sophomore reserve Ross Mills led Pacific with 19 points. The Tigers’ starting center, Mike Preston, injured his left foot four minutes into the game, but Mills replaced him and made five of seven shots in the first half for 11 points. Mills was nine of 14 for the game.

“Mills had a big game for them,” Hawking said. “Even though we were even on rebounding (32-32), they got some key baskets on their offensive board, and we didn’t have the answer for Mills.”

Ike Harmon had 15 points and Brandon Campbell 11 for Fullerton, but the Titan guards, Murphy and Kenroy Jarrett, struggled.

Murphy’s 44-game streak of having at least one three-point basket ended when he went 0 for 5. Murphy was one of seven from the field, and Jarrett was two for 10, both field goals coming on three-point shots. The two scored a combined eight points.

The point total tied a season low for the Titans, who also had season-lows in free throws made (five) and attempted (eight). Pacific was seven of 10 at the line.

“That was an unusually low number of free throws for such a physical game,” Hawking said.

Pacific Coach Bob Thomason was pleased with his team’s effort on defense. “Except for a couple of turnovers late in the game, we played pretty consistently throughout the game,” Thomason said. “It was a great win for us.”

The Tigers led, 28-27, at halftime and retained the upper hand in the second half after a 35-35 tie. They went from a 45-43 edge to a 54-45 lead with less than four minutes left. Pacific had a nine-point lead with 2 minutes 47 seconds to play.

Fullerton battled back to within four after Harmon made two free throws with 54 seconds left.

Rodney Anderson’s defensive effort forced a Pacific turnover, but Murphy missed a three-point shot. Another Tiger turnover set up a dunk by Campbell that cut the deficit to 56-54 with 18 seconds to play.

After that, however, the Titans hit the wall.

Fullerton plays division-leading Long Beach State on Saturday in Titan Gym.