Fullerton stays hot in Big West

Josh Akognon scored 21 points to lead Cal State Fullerton to a 78-64 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Thursday night at Titan Gym.

Junior Russell tied his career high of 16 points and Scott Cutley had 12 points for the Titans, 10-4 overall, who have opened Big West Conference play with three consecutive victories for the first time since 1984.

Matt Hanson scored a career-high 22 points for the Mustangs (6-9, 1-2), who have lost four of five. Titus Shelton had 10 points and two blocks.

UC Irvine 66, UC Santa Barbara 63 -- Patrick Sanders scored 16 points and Brett Lauer tied a career high with 14 points to lead the Anteaters (12-4, 1-2) past the visiting Gauchos (12-4, 1-2).

Darren Fells scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds for the Anteaters.

Alex Harris led the Gauchos with 15 points, and Ivan Elliott and Paul Roemer scored 12 apiece.

UC Irvine led 64-52 after a three-point basket by Lauer with 5:53 remaining, but UC Santa Barbara then forced the Anteaters into six turnovers and scored five points in a 20-second stretch that cut the lead to 64-63 with 1:10 left.

Sanders missed the front end of a one-and-one with 13.3 seconds remaining and the Gauchos set up for a shot to take the lead, but Harris lost the ball with two seconds left.

Sanders then made a pair of free throws in the final second.

Pacific 83, Long Beach State 77 -- Steffan Johnson scored 19 points and five other Tigers scored in double figures in a victory over the host 49ers (3-11, 0-3).

Pacific improved to 11-4, 2-0.

Michael Nunnally scored 14 points and Anthony Brown had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who have won five of six and have defeated the 49ers in nine of their last 11 meetings.

Donavan Morris scored a career-high 32 points for Long Beach State. Morris was 10 for 15 from the field and made four three-pointers.

Pacific went on an 18-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 54-40 lead with 11:23 to play.

The 49ers cut the Pacific lead to 79-77 on a three-pointer by Morris with 10.6 seconds left, but Johnson and Brown sank four free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory.

Chad Troyer had 13 points, Bryan LeDuc scored 11 and Joe Ford added 10 points for Pacific.

Cal State Northridge 82, UC Davis 47 -- Calvin Chitwood and Deon Tresvant scored 16 points apiece and Tremaine Townsend scored 14 to lead the host Matadors (11-3, 3-0) to victories in their first three conference games for the first time in 18 years.

Chitwood, Jonathan Heard and Townsend combined for 18 points in a decisive 27-12 run for Cal State Northridge in the first 14:05.

UC Davis (7-8, 1-1) never got closer than nine points after that. The Aggies trailed, 35-22, at the half, and trailed by as many as 35 in the second half.

Tresvant scored 14 of his 16 in the second half. Heard scored all eight of his points in the first.

Northridge won its fourth straight and is off to its best start since opening 14-2 in 1981-82.

David Carter led UC Davis with 22 points. He was the only Davis player to score in double figures.

WOMEN

USC 62, Washington State 58 -- Heather Oliver scored 16 points, including a three-point basket with less than a minute to play, in the visiting Trojans’ comeback victory.

The Trojans (10-6, 3-2 Pacific-10) played without second-leading scorer Camille LeNoir (sore hip) and trailed by as many as 13 points early in the second half.

USC lost the lead with about five minutes left in the first half and did not lead again until Oliver made the transition three-pointer with 49 seconds to play.

USC forward Nadia Parker led all scorers with 17 points. Cougars’ freshman Katie Calderwood made all three of her three-point attempts and scored 13 points, and Colleen Betteridge had 12.

The Trojans made only five of 22 three-point attempts and made 39.3% of their shots. Oliver was one of five from three-point range before her big basket.

The rebuilding Cougars (3-12, 0-4 Pac-10) appeared on the verge of their biggest win of the season before leaving new Coach June Daugherty still looking for her first conference victory.

UCLA 59, Washington 57 -- Lindsey Pluimer scored 16 points to help the visiting Bruins withstand a late rally by the Huskies. UCLA (8-8, 3-2 Pac-10) led by 13 points in the second half and held on when Andrea Plouffe missed a three-point shot at the buzzer for Washington (6-10, 1-3).