Oregon State Routs Titans in Opener

Coach Donny Daniels’ first season at Cal State Fullerton got off to an ugly start Friday against Oregon State.

The Titans scored only 12 points in the second half and were hammered by the Beavers, 68-35, in front of 4,712 in Gill Coliseum in the first meeting of the teams.

It was the fewest points scored in a half and the second fewest points in a game for the Titans since they began playing Division I in 1974. Fullerton scored only 30 points in a loss to Fresno State during the 1980-81 season.

The Titans played most of the night without guard Brandon Campbell, who had been the Titans’ most effective player in two exhibition games. Campbell sprained his left knee with 11 1/2 minutes left in the first half in a collision with teammate Chris Smith.

“I tried to plant for a rebound and he ran into me,” Campbell said. “After that, I couldn’t even walk on it.”

Daniels hopes it’s only a sprain.

“But we won’t know for sure until the swelling goes down,” Daniels said. “That took the wind out of our sails. We’re already depleted, and then our best player goes down.”

Fullerton made only five of 20 (25.0%) from the floor in the second half while Oregon State was padding its lead. Fullerton made 15 of 40 (37.5%) for the game.

The Beavers shot 48% and three players scored in double figures. Josh Steinthal led the way with 16 points. Jason Heide had 14 and Adam Masten 13.

“Oregon State has good players, and they’re a good team, playing at home,” Daniels said. “We knew it would be a difficult game for us.”

Sophomore reserve Babacar Camara was the only Titan to reach double figures with 10 points, making five of eight shots from the floor. Point guard Kevin Richardson had nine points on four of six from the floor, but Daniels wasn’t happy with his shot selection.

Oregon State closed the door quickly on Fullerton with solid defense in the first half, and the Titans had problems working the ball inside. They were called for one shot clock violation in the first half and barely got a shot off in time to avoid two others.

“We tried to run some motion early,” Daniels said. “We knew they were going to sag on us, and we needed to hit some shots.”

The Titans took only 20 shots in the first half, but made half of them. Oregon State led, 30-15, before the Titans cut the deficit to 33-23 at halftime. But it didn’t get any better for Fullerton in the second half after Campbell returned to the bench on crutches and didn’t play again.

Oregon State scored the first nine points of the second half and coasted the rest of the way. Fullerton was shut out in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half.

“They’re a good shooting team, and they stretched us out and made their three-point shots,” Daniels said.

Fullerton missed Ike Harmon’s quickness and rebounding ability. The Titans were outrebounded, 35-23.

Harmon, the team’s top scorer and rebounder the past two seasons, was suspended from the team indefinitely earlier this week for violating team policy, but probably wouldn’t have played regardless because of his lack of practice time. Harmon had been sidelined for four weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot before being cleared earlier in the week to resume workouts. Freshman forward Keith Brooks also did not make the trip because of a back injury.

The Beavers played without three players, but still dropped the Titans’ record to 2-16 against Pacific 10 Conference opponents.