Fullerton Doesn’t Like Life Without Ike

The odds seemed stacked against Cal State Fullerton for its Big West Conference opener Thursday night at Utah State.

Utah State had won 45 of its previous 48 games at home, and the Titans hadn’t won in Logan since 1982. In Fullerton’s three previous games in the Spectrum, it lost by a combined 81 points.

Despite that history, the Titans gave Utah State some problems this time before the Aggies finally pulled away with an 11-0 run in the second half and won, 82-70.

The victory, in front of 5,217, was Utah State’s 26th in its last 27 conference games at home.

“Rebounding and foul trouble continue to plague us,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said.

Utah State (10-5) had a 34-25 rebounding advantage, and the Titans’ top scorer, Ike Harmon, fouled out with 4 minutes 47 seconds left. Harmon’s fourth foul was a technical with 10 1/2 minutes remaining.

“He exchanged words with their player [Brennan Ray], and Ike was second,” Hawking said. “It was part and parcel of our collapse in the second half. It wasn’t critical, but I did have to pull him out for a while after that.”

Harmon finished with 16 points, going over 1,000 points for his Titan career, but he played only six minutes in the second half and 21 for the game. Guard Kenroy Jarrett led the Titans with 17 points.

Forward Troy Rolle led Utah State with 24 points, with center Dimitri Jorssen and guard Bernard Rock each scoring 13.

“We didn’t do a particularly good job of guarding them, and they took advantage of us in the block,” Hawking said “That 13-5 rebounding advantage they had on the offensive board took its toll. And we couldn’t guard Rolle. He’s one of the best in the conference.”

Fullerton (5-7) shot 56% in the first half, leading by five points twice before Rolle scored eight consecutive points to lift the Aggies to a 37-35 halftime lead.

“I thought at halftime we were going to win it,” Jarrett said. “But we didn’t sustain anything on the defensive end in the second half. But we have to give a lot of credit for that to Rolle. He has a quick first step and a good jump shot. Not having Ike in the game for a big part of the second half hurt us, too, but they did a good job of covering all our perimeter guys.”

Utah State shot 52.4% in the second half and finished at 50%. The Aggies didn’t have a free-throw attempt in the first half, then made 21 of 30 in the second half. The Titans made 15 of 16 free throws, and shot 48% from the field.

“Fullerton did a really good job of trying to get us out of rhythm, and as a result we struggled a lot,” Utah State Coach Stew Morrill said. “I thought Rolle was huge, especially in the first half when we were really struggling.”

The victory was Utah State’s fifth of the season without a loss against teams from California. The Aggies also have beaten USC, UC San Diego, San Diego and Fresno State.