Titans Prove to Be Cure for Pacific’s Ills

Pacific has been struggling lately, but a trip Saturday night to Titan Gym to face battered Cal State Fullerton revived the Tigers.

Pacific, which had lost four of its previous five games, shot 66.7% in the first half and went on to a 63-50 Big West Conference victory, handing the Titans their ninth consecutive loss at home.

It was Pacific’s fifth consecutive victory over Fullerton and 10th in the last 11 games between the teams.

Fullerton scored only eight points in the final 11 minutes 50 seconds of the first half after taking an 11-4 lead, then went nearly eight minutes without a point at the start of the second half.

“That’s why we’re 3-20, with those kinds of lulls,” Titan Coach Donny Daniels said.

The Titans outscored Pacific, 31-19, in the final 12 minutes, but the surge came too late for Fullerton to avoid its 10th loss in 11 games at home this season.

Pacific improved to 14-9, 6-6 in the conference, with Fullerton falling into last place with a 2-11 record. Idaho, which defeated Boise State Saturday night, is 2-10 in the conference. Fullerton and Idaho play Thursday night at Fullerton. Eight of nine teams advance to the conference tournament.

Junior guard Jono Metzger-Jones made five of six three-point shots and scored 15 points to lead the Tigers.

Junior forward Josh Fischer’s 12 points led the Titans. Senior Ike Harmon, playing in his second game back after being sidelined for four weeks because of a stress fracture in his left foot, scored 10 points, going eight for eight at the free-throw line. It moved Harmon into the No. 3 spot among the school’s career scoring leaders.

“Ike played hard for the most part tonight, but in all fairness to him, he’s never got going this season,” Daniels said. “Every time he’s come back from an injury he’s been out of shape.”

Harmon also was sidelined with a foot injury in preseason practice.

The teams scored a combined 17 points in the first 10 minutes, but Pacific scored eight consecutive points and went on to a 34-19 halftime cushion.

Metzger-Jones made four of five three-point shots in the first half to spark Pacific’s surge.

Fullerton didn’t get a point in the second half until Richardson scored on a jump shot from the base line with 12:08 remaining, ending a stretch of slightly more than 15 minutes without a Fullerton field goal.

The Titans trailed by as many as 26 points with 11:35 to play, but the Titans came back to close the gap to 59-50 on a short jump shot by Richardson with slightly more than a minute to go.

“That drought in the second half hurt us,” Daniels said. “Every team goes through droughts, but they’re good enough to get some defensive stops when it happens.”

Daniels said the Titans’ lack of depth again was a factor.

Reserve forward Daniel Kohn was sidelined by a knee injury. Point guard David Castleton played despite a shoulder injury. “We’re just not deep enough.” Daniels said. “Next season we have to get deeper.”

The loss marked the third time Fullerton has lost as many as 20 games in the last seven seasons.

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Big West Standings

Through Saturday’s games

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Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L Pct. UC Irvine 12 1 .923 20 3 .870 Utah State 11 2 .846 22 4 .846 Long Beach State 8 5 .615 15 11 .577 UC Santa Barbara 7 5 .583 11 12 .478 Pacific 6 6 .500 14 9 .609 Boise State 5 7 .417 13 12 .520 Cal Poly SLO 3 9 .250 9 14 .391 Idaho 2 10 .167 5 18 .217 CS Fullerton 2 11 .154 3 20 .130

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Saturday’s results

UC Irvine 93, Cal Poly SLO 89

Pacific 63, Cal State Fullerton 50

Idaho 70, Boise State 67

Long Beach State 71, Utah State 56

UC Santa Barbara 59, UC Riverside 48