Fullerton Has No Answers in Defeat

There were so many moments, none of them good, that summed up Cal State Fullerton’s evening.

There was Titan walk-on Ahmad Shurdim playing in the first half, only the second time that has happened this season.

There was Brandon Campbell, the Big West Conference high jump champion, missing not one but two uncontested dunks in a 20-second span.

There was the bewildered look on the Titans’ faces as Cal Poly San Luis Obispo polished off a 108-79 victory Saturday in front of 2,573 in Mott Gymnasium.

How did it happen? The better question was: How could it happen?

San Luis Obispo, after all, had won only once in its last 14 games before the Titans came to town. The Mustangs were run off the court Thursday by UC Irvine, a team Fullerton manhandled.

There weren’t a lot of answers.

“Go back to the drawing board,” Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said.

This loss--the Titans’ fifth in a row--came two days after a 81-53 beating at UC Santa Barbara.

The only good thing that happened to the Titans on this trip? They didn’t have to sleep on the streets when they arrived in San Luis Obispo late Thursday night and found their motel arrangements messed up.

“We were ready to win,” Fullerton guard Kenroy Jarrett said. “At least that’s what we said. We came out like a team ready to be picked on. Losing is like a sickness. It’s a disease.”

It was too late to be quarantined.

The Mustangs hurt the Titans inside and outside, but mostly outside. They made 18 of 39 three-pointers, the most three-point attempts and baskets ever given up by Fullerton.

The Mustangs got career highs from Jason King (22) and David Henry (21). Chris Bjorklund scored 21 and Mike Wozniak 18.

The Mustangs didn’t have a reserve score until James Grace nailed a three-pointer with 5 minutes 43 seconds left. By then, they had a 91-67 lead.

“They were unbelievable,” Hawking said. “You can’t match them when they shoot like that.”

San Luis Obispo shot better on three-pointers (46%) than Fullerton did overall (42%).

Wozniak did not attempt a shot for the first 11 minutes. He then sank three consecutive three-pointers. He made six of 10 for the game. Henry was five of seven and King six of 15.

“Wozniak hit those threes and it was like, ‘Let’s all start hitting them,’ ” Jarrett said. “It seemed like every time they brought somebody in, they ran a play for him and he hit a three.”

Fullerton (8-13, 3-7) led, 12-9, with 16:24 left in the first half. What followed was a blur.

A 10-0 San Luis Obispo run turned into a 17-1 run, which turned into a 33-7 run. By the time the Titans stopped gasping, the Mustangs had a 42-19 lead.

The Titans had two rebounds in the first 14 minutes. San Luis Obispo had a 9-1 edge in offensive rebounds in the first half, which led to 12 points.

The Mustangs, the worst rebounding team in the conference, finished with a 50-31 edge.

“You get outrebounded by 19, you’re going to get beat by 30,” Hawking said.

On the bright side, Shurdim did have a career-high seven points.