Fullerton earns NCAA bid

Cal State Again. That’s who.

It has been three decades since Cal State Fullerton took a glass-slipper stroll through the NCAA basketball tournament, reaching the Elite Eight and enduring “Cal State Who” comments while beating two ranked teams.

The Titans’ small fan base, those who were working on B.A. degrees at the time, can now show their AARP cards at the door for Fullerton’s follow-up visit to the tournament next week.

The Titans took their fans down memory Saturday night with an 81-66 victory over UC Irvine at the Anaheim Convention Center in the Big West Conference tournament final, sending them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since they took Arkansas to limit in a 1978 regional final.

“They called it the 30-year curse,” Fullerton guard Frank Robinson said. “We ended it at 30 years. Thirty years ago those guys made a name for themselves. They got there. We got it back.”

Fullerton players were able to savor the moment after getting the Anteaters down and keeping them there. Scott Cutley, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds, stood near midcourt extending his index finger while dribbling the ball as the clock ran down. When time expired, a mass of Fullerton fans swept over the Titans players, some looking old enough to have done the same in 1978.

“It’s a lot to absorb right now,” Fullerton Coach Bob Burton said while being jostled and congratulated by fans. “There is so much to take in and I’m still in game mode. I’m still thinking we could lose this game.”

The Titans (24-8) could have played all night and still come out on top. A 7-0 burst gave them a 14-6 lead six minutes into the game and they stayed ahead for the rest of the half. They led by as many as 13 points and by 37-27 at halftime.

Josh Akognon, named the tournament’s most valuable player, had 23 points, 15 in the first half. The Titans shot 52.7% from the field for the game.

The Anteaters had to play one more tournament game than Fullerton, which tied for the regular-season title. They appeared to wear down by the end of Saturday’s game.

“Our guys gutted it out for four days,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said. “They gave everything they could.”

The Anteaters (18-16) shot 37%, though the Titans had as much to do with that as fatigue.

“Last year, we lost [in the tournament] because of our defense,” Cutley said. “It feels good to win because of our defense.”

Irvine’s last gasp was a rally that cut a 17-point Fullerton lead to 55-46 with eight minutes left. But the Anteaters then made only three field goals during a five-minute stretch that ended with Cutley scoring on a layup and adding a free throw for a 71-54 lead.

That left Irvine unfulfilled again. After 31 years, and 890 games as a Division I team, the Anteaters still haven’t made it to the NCAA tournament.

The Titans, meanwhile, were able to dust off memories of 1978. Fullerton upset New Mexico, which had Michael Cooper, and San Francisco, which had Bill Cartwright, before losing to fourth-ranked Arkansas, 61-58.

“We knew all about that,” Robinson said. “We talked about it a lot this year. They did something special 30 years ago. We wanted to work hard and achieve the same thing.”

The same thing?

“They won two games in the tournament,” Robinson said. “The way we’re playing defense right now, who knows?”

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chris.foster@latimes.com