Titans Lose on the Rebound

Utah State’s hangover from Wednesday night’s five-point loss at UC Irvine lasted almost a half. But once the Aggies realized they were playing Cal State Fullerton--one of the worst teams in the Big West Conference--they began playing like a team that still had hopes of winning the conference title.

Utah State broke open a tie game with an 11-0 run just before halftime and went on to a 76-52 victory Friday night before 825 at Titan Gym.

Forward Shawn Daniels had 15 points and five rebounds to lead the Aggies (19-3, 8-1), who made eight of 16 three-pointers and won the battle of the boards, 37-26.

“After Wednesday night’s game, I thought we came back and played hard and with some energy and passion,” Utah State Coach Stew Morrill said. “That’s exactly what I expected out of a team with this kind of character.”

Sophomore center Babacar Camara led the Titans (3-16, 2-7) with 16 points and eight rebounds and forward Kevin Richardson had 15 points.

But the Titans didn’t get much from the rest of their starters. Guard Ryan Dillon, who made 10 three-pointers Wednesday n an 84-76 loss to Boise State, made one of six three-point attempts and finished with five points. Point guard David Castleton scored two points and had four turnovers in 30 minutes and forward Josh Fischer scored seven points on two-of-six shooting.

Fullerton stayed with Utah State for the first 18 minutes by going to Camara inside, hitting a couple of three-pointers, playing tough man-to-man defense and hanging tough on the backboards. But everything began to break down in the last two minutes of the half.

Daniels gave Utah State a 26-24 lead with a rebound and layup. Reserve small forward Brennan Ray followed with two vicious slam-dunk rebounds. Then, turnovers by Castleton led to Utah State’s last two baskets. Dion Bailey scored on a breakaway layup and Bernard Rock swished a running three-pointer from the baseline as the buzzer sounded.

Titan Coach Donnie Daniels said he has seen it all before.

“That’s been our downfall all year, rebounding and turnovers,” he said. “And the rebounding is not only by their big guys. If we rebound the ball at the end of the half, we’re in decent shape.

“It’s about toughness. They can get them, we can’t.”

Utah State, which has its rematch with first-place UC Irvine on Thursday in Logan, had been out-rebounded in its last four games. But it was a different story Friday. The Aggies had 17 offensive rebounds, three each by Daniels, Ray and Bailey. Fullerton had eight offensive rebounds, three by Camara.

The Aggies opened the second half with a layup by Rock off a Titan turnover and a dunk by Daniels. Fullerton, which made only two of 12 three-point attempts and shot 39% from the field, never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

The Titans had pretty good luck when they got the ball to Richardson, who made 11 of 14 free throws and two of five field-goal attempts. But sloppy ball-handling and poor passing limited Richardson’s touches.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Daniels said. “We thought Kevin had a pretty good game. But the biggest factor tonight was the turnovers.”