Titans Fall to New Mexico State in Emotional Game

It was a night filled with emotion in Titan Gym.

It was the final game for Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking, who after six seasons announced his resignation with four games remaining.

It also was the first time the Titans have played this season without Rodney Anderson, a freshman guard who was critically wounded by gunshots fired by an unknown assailant in what appeared to be an act of random violence near his family’s home in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Fullerton players would have liked to have given both of them a victory Saturday night, but that would have been asking even more than the improbable. New Mexico State won, 80-65, against an outmanned team down to nine healthy players, three of whom are walk-ons.

It was the 11th consecutive loss for the Titans (8-19, 3-13), who finished last in the Big West Conference’s Western Division. New Mexico State improved to 20-8, 11-5 in the conference, heading into next week’s Big West tournament.

But the game was secondary for the Titans.

“The last two days have really been hard for us,” said Titan standout Ike Harmon, who led all scorers with 28 points. “But we felt like we had to stay strong for another strong player. When you play with a player every day, it’s a special friendship.”

When the Titan starting lineup was introduced, Harmon carried Anderson’s No. 4 jersey onto the court, holding it above his head. Then the players gathered at center court with Anderson’s jersey held high in the middle of them. Each player wore a wrist band with Anderson’s number.

Harmon placed Anderson’s jersey on the back of a chair on the bench, and it was left vacant throughout the game.

“It was something that just came to me before the game,” Harmon said. “I wanted everyone to know that even though he wasn’t here with us physically, he was with us. The two of us always went into the center before the game together. The other players on the team would kid him about being a ‘Little Ike.’ But he’s a freshman, and he was my roommate on the road and I sort of took him under my wing.”

Hawking said the only thing written on the board in the locker room before the game was “40 for No. 4.”

“With everything that has happened in the last 24 hours, it was hard to have focus for playing a basketball game,” Hawking said. “That kind of tragedy puts everything else into perspective. We’ve been so involved with Rodney’s situation that we haven’t practiced the last two days.”

Senior guard Kenroy Jarrett said he was choked up with emotion.

“Coach asked us Friday if we wanted to play the game, and at that point I didn’t want to play,” Jarrett said. “I wanted the season to end right now, but Rodney’s mother said to go ahead and play.”

Harmon’s performance moved him past Cedric Ceballos into the No. 7 spot among the school’s top career scorers with 1,311 points.

Harmon chose not to participate in the pregame ceremony honoring the team’s seniors. He hopes to regain the year he lost as a Proposition 48 nonqualifier if the NCAA passes legislation that will allow it in April. Jarrett and Mark Murphy were honored.