Long Beach State Shows Lowly Titans No Mercy

Late last season, when Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State played in the Pyramid, the Titans won their fourth consecutive game against the 49ers and Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan was beginning to feel some heat.

A year later, things are a lot different.

Morgan’s 49ers clinched first place in the Big West Conference’s Western Division Thursday night with an 88-75 victory over the Titans, a day after Bob Hawking resigned as Fullerton coach effective at the end of the season.

The victory, in front of 3,006 at the Pyramid, gave the 49ers (20-4, 12-1) their first 20-victory season since 1994-95 and their first during the regular season since 1989-90. It was Long Beach’s 18th victory in 19 games.

“We’ve come a long way in the last year,” Morgan said.

It was the eighth consecutive loss for Fullerton (8-16, 3-10), the school’s longest skid since the 1980-81 team lost 13 in a row.

“Long Beach has a lot of talent in the starting lineup, but great talent coming off the bench too,” Hawking said. “They’re really deep. Several of those guys have been starters in the past. They wear down a team like us. We can’t match their strength.”

The 49ers had five players in double figures. Center Mate Milisa scored 19, guard Ramel Lloyd 18 and reserve D’Cean Bryant had 15 to lead the way. James Williams and Antrone Lee each finished with 13.

Long Beach’s balance overcame a 29-point performance by Ike Harmon, who made 12 of 23 shots from the field in the third-highest scoring effort of his Fullerton career. Josh Fischer had 12 points and Kenroy Jarrett 10.

“I’m proud of the way our team played hard despite all the adversity we’ve had,” Harmon said. “But Long Beach is a real good team. They’re up there with the best teams that we’ve played.”

Long Beach, which is tied for second with North Carolina among the nation’s top field-goal shooting teams, shot 43.9% after making 11 of 34 (32.4%) in the second half. Fullerton shot 50% from the floor but committed a season-high 25 turnovers. Long Beach had 19 steals, a season high.

“I was disappointed with the number of turnovers,” Hawking said. “That’s been an Achilles’ heel for us several times this season, but we played hard. We have nothing to be ashamed of from that standpoint.”

Long Beach led, 49-35, at halftime after scoring the last six points of the half. The Titans battled back to cut the deficit to 56-50 in the second half behind good shooting by Harmon and Mark Murphy, but Long Beach turned back that challenge and regained a 14-point lead.

Hawking said he spent a restless night Wednesday after announcing his resignation in his sixth season as Titan coach.

“But I didn’t want to dwell on it, and I didn’t want the team to dwell on it,” Hawking said. “I just want our team to compete as hard as we can in every game the rest of our season.”

Fullerton’s loss left it in last place in the Western Division with three games to play.