Burton wants to cry foul after Titans’ loss

OMAHA -- One of the untold stories of Cal State Fullerton’s 71-56 loss to Wisconsin on Thursday night at the Qwest Center was a discrepancy in fouls, and Fullerton Coach Bob Burton wanted to keep it untold.

Fullerton was whistled for 25, Wisconsin for only 11 and Burton had to bite his lip not to say anything.

“I’m new to this big time stuff here so I don’t think I’m supposed to comment on it, which I would absolutely love to,” Burton said. “It was very discouraging.”

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Frank Robinson entered the game averaging 16 points and seven rebounds and had 11 points and three rebounds when he fouled out with more than 12 minutes remaining.

His absence and the difficulty forward Scott Cutley was having inside left Fullerton thin on the offensive end.

“I was thinking, my career is over,” said Robinson, a senior. “My stomach was turning. It was hard.”

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Josh Akognon, a junior transfer from Washington State, was the only option left after Robinson fouled out and Cutley was grateful he was on the Titans’ side.

“He played amazing,” Cutley said. “He kept us in this game. If it wasn’t for him, this would have been a 30-point blowout. Every time, he would come down and make a three with a hand in his face, it gave us more and more enthusiasm and spirit to win this game.”

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Nobody expected the Titans to be in the game for long, nobody except the Fullerton players and coaches.

They went to the locker room down only two at halftime, but thought they should have been ahead.

“We were disappointed,” Robinson said. “We came into this game believing that we were going to win. Everybody said we weren’t going to win but we didn’t listen to them. We’re used to being underdogs. So just to be in this situation, it says a lot about our coach and our players.”

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peter.yoon@latimes.com