Cal Poly at Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 | 7:05 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 | 5:05 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
THIS WEEK
The Titans (9-16, 1-9) have their last true homestand this week when they host Cal Poly on Thursday and UC Santa Barbara in a 5 p.m. game Saturday to be telecast on ESPN3. They will be trying to avenge a road trip sweep in San Luis Obispo and Goleta in late January.
QUICK NOTES
Fullerton avoided its worst start in conference play in its history by beating CSUN handily 69-53, on Feb. 5. But since then the Titans have lost at home in overtime to UC Riveride and been swept on a road trip to UC Davis and Hawai'i. The 1987-88 team opened 0-7 but rallied to finish 7-11 in league play. The worst final conference record is the 2-16 mark posted by the 2001-02 team. The Titans are 0-3 in overtime games this year, all coming in conference play.
BE A FOLLOWER
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Instagram (FullertonTitans). In addition, the men's basketball team has established its own Twitter presence @FullertonHoops.
TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Cal State Fullerton students receive free admission to Titan home games with their Titan I.D. card. Additional ticket information can be found by clicking http://bit.ly/1wl9y6t. Fullerton is 6-5 in Titan Gym this season. Last season the Titans were 8-6 at home and 5-3 in home Big West contests.
LAST WEEK
The Titans went 0-2 on their most distant trip on the Big West Conference schedule -- at UC Davis and Hawai'i. They lost to the Aggies, 75-69, in a game decided by a late 8-1 UC Davis spurt and a 28-15 CSF disadvantage in free throws made. Davis made 7 of 16 treys, the Titans only 4 of 16. At Hawai'i, the Titans were within a point at 42-41 very early in the second half, but then missed their next 7 shots to fall behind by double figures and never recover, finishing 7-of-30 for the half.
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vs. Cal Poly
Thurs., Feb. 19, 7:05 p.m. | Titan Gym
The Mustangs
Cal Poly is coming off a 2-0 week at home that saw it defeat CSUN and Long Beach State to climb a game over .500 overall and a game under .500 in Big West play. They have won three in a row only once previously this season. Cal Poly leads the Big West in scoring defense at 59.7 ppg. David Nwaba leads a balanced offense at 12.5 ppg followed closely by Brian Bennett at 11.0 and Reese Morgan at 10.9. The latter is the son of former Titan guard Tom Morgan (1977-80).
Head-to-Head
The Mustangs hold a 35-26 advantage over the Titans in the all-time series and a 20-17 edge since 1996-97 in Big West play. The Titans are 8-10 in Titan Gym in BWC play vs. Cal Poly. The teams have split the series in each of the last three seasons.
Last Meeting
After trailing by only 4 points at the half on Jan. 22, the Titans got outscored 13-2 to open the second period and came up short in their rally attempts. They got as close as 53-48 with 5 minutes to play but Cal Poly got consecutive 3-point plays from David Nwaba and Joel Awich after CSF turnovers and suddenly it was 59-48 with 4 minutes left. Nwaba finished with 18 points and Awich had 17. Steve McClellan led Fullerton with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Alex Harris and Lanerryl Johnson combined to make only 5 of 20 shots for a total of 15 points in the 66-55 loss.
vs. UC Santa Barbara
Sat., Feb. 21, 5:05 p.m. | Titan Gym
The Gauchos
UC Santa Barbara defeated Long Beach State at home, 70-55, and won at CSUN, 65-57, last week for a 3-game winning streak. The Gauchos play Thursday at UC Riverside. Reigning Big West player of the year Alan Williams remained sidelined with a shoulder injury but Michael Bryson has picked up the slack. He had 21 points and 9 rebounds vs. the 49ers and 26 and 7 vs. the Matadors and was selected Big West player of the week. John Green added 10 vs. the 49ers.
Head-to-Head
The Gauchos lead the all-time series, 42-37. The teams have split the season series in each of the last four seasons with the home team winning every time. Fullerton has won four in a row and 8 of the last 10 meetings in Titan Gym.
Last Meeting
The Titans played perhaps their best first half of the Big West schedule at UCSB on Jan. 24, fighting back from an early 10-2 deficit to lead at the intermission for the first time in five BWC games, 36-31. CSF had a 6-for-13 effort at the 3-point line and only 2 turnovers vs. 7 by the Gauchos. The Titans upped the lead to 38-31 but the game swung when Kennedy Esume had a dunk attempt blocked by Sam Beeler and less than a minute later Beeler made a dunk and UCSB was off on a 19-0 run over the next 7 minutes. It would be Beeler's only bucket. Michael Bryson had 23 points and John Green had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Lanerryl Johnson led CSF with 21 but the Titans were outscored in the second half, 37-13.
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OVERTIME BLUES
Fullerton has lost three overtime games this year and Coach Dedrique Taylor is 0-4 in his brief Titan tenure. All-time, Fullerton is 44-55 in extra time games.
CLOSE IN SEVEN OF NINE LOSSES
Fullerton has been very competitive despite the results in Big West play with the exception of bad second halves at UCSB and Hawai'i. The 9 losses in a sentence each:
• at UCR, they rallied from 18 points down to lead by 3 at 1:30 of regulation only to lose in overtime
• vs. UCI they rallied from 17 down to close within 3 points as late as the 0:15 mark
• vs. UC Davis they rallied from 16 down to close within 5 points as late as 2:08
• at Cal Poly they rallied from 15 down to close within 5 as late as 4:42
• at UCSB they led by 5 at the half but were outscored 21-4 in the first 10 minutes of the second period
• vs. Long Beach State, the Titans let an 11-point lead with 4 minutes to play get away and lost in overtime
• vs. UC Riverside they overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, took a 4-point lead with 4:17 to play, twice in the last minute of regulation came from 2 down to tie only to lose in OT after scoring first
• at UC Davis they were down 51-47 with less than 7:00 to go but surrendered an 8-1 spurt
• at Hawai'i they were down 40-38 at the half but then hit only 4 of their first 26 shots after intermission and were outscored 41-23 in the half
BIG WEST STATS
(in All games)
• the Titans rank 3rd in rebound margin at +1.6
• individually, Josh Gentry ranks 1st in free-throw percentage (.932)
• Steve McClellan ranks 1st in rebounding (8.6)
• Alex Harris ranks 4th in scoring (16.1), 9th in assists (3.29) and 4th in steals (1.50)
• Lanerryl Johnson ranks 4th in free-throw percentage (.822), 12th in scoring (12.2), 10th in made 3-pointers (1.84) and 6th in 3-pt percentage (.411)
(in Big West games only)
• Steve McClellan is 1st in rebounding (10.7)
• Josh Gentry is 1st in free-throw percentage (.939 - 31 of 33)
• Lanerryl Johnson is 11th in scoring (12.8) and 7th in FT percentage (.829)
• Alex Harris is 2nd in scoring (17.1), 5th in steals (1.67), and T10th in assists (3.00)
WELL EXPOSED
With last week's addition of the game at Long Beach State on Feb. 28 as an ESPN3 contest, the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 11 television appearances during the 2014-15 season. The breakdown includes six appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network, two on Prime Ticket and one on ROOT Sports.
HARRIS CLIMBING IN CLUB 1,000
Senior guard Alex Harris begins the week with 1,141 career points after getting 11 at UC Davis and sitting out at Hawai'i due to injury. He became the 23rd Titan to score 1,000 with a late first-half jumper at UC Riverside on Jan. 8. He has climbed up to No. 16 in the rankings and within conceivable range this week are No. 15, Bruce Bowen at 1,155; No. 14, Frank Robinson at 1,161; No. 13, Kevin Heenan at 1,164; and No. 12, Gary Davis at 1,165. At his current pace, Harris could approach the Top Ten (Cedric Ceballos is No. 10 with 1,284).
MORE ON ALEX HARRIS
Alex Harris is averaging a team-leading 16.1 points per game. But "average" is a deceiving number. Over the last seven games his point totals have been 8, 4, 28, 10, a career high of 31, 11 and DNP. His non-start (coach's decision) vs. CSUN on Feb. 5 snapped a streak of 44 consecutive starts.
ALSO FROM THE PERIMETER
Fullerton's top three scorers are all guards. Behind only Harris' 16.1 points per game are junior Lanerryl Johnson (12.2 ppg) and senior Moses Morgan (8.7 ppg).
SPEAKING OF THE ARC
Fullerton has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 566 games, a streak dating to Feb. 1, 1996. That night the Titans went 0-for-13 from behind the arc in a loss to Long Beach State. That zero snapped a previous string of 105 consecutive games.
THE STARTING FIVES
Cal State Fullerton has used 10 different starting lineups this season including seven different ones in the past nine games. The most common (8 games, consecutively Dec. 11 thru Jan. 15) put senior Alex Harris at the point guard position with Moses Morgan, Josh Gentry, Joe Boyd and Steve McClellan completing the starting five.
McCLELLAN CLEANING THE GLASS
Senior forward Steve McClellan leads the Titans averaging 8.6 rebounds per game followed by sophomore forward Joe Boyd (4.3 rpg). The redshirt senior, who missed his career high by one with 14 rebounds on Jan. 8 at UCR and on Feb. 5 vs. CSUN, also tops the Titans shooting 56.6 percent (73-of-129) from the floor. He has produced all five Titan double-doubles this season. He matched his season-high with 15 points vs. CSUN on Feb. 5.
JOHNSON HOT AND COLD
Lanerryl Johnson has been dramatically up-and-down at the offensive end. He came off the bench to average 17.0 points over 4 games (Dec. 30-Jan. 15 while shooting 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from three-point range. He was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting in 8 total minutes vs. CSUN and UC Riverside two weeks ago but then led the team in scoring last week with 11 at UC Davis and 23 at Hawai'i.
MORGAN, TOO
Moses Morgan scored 10 points at UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 24 for his first double-digit game since Jan. 3 vs. Seattle when he netted 17 points. He scored 10 again vs. Long Beach State and 11 vs. CSUN but since then has totaled only 7 points in the last three games.
IT'S IN THE GENES
Nine players on the Titans' roster have relatives who are competing or have competed in college, international and/or pro athletics:
Sheldon Blackwell's brother, Perris, played basketball at San Francisco (3 yrs.) and Washington (1 yr.); his sister, Jada, played two years at Arizona State and is now a senior at Cal Poly Pomona where she was a finalist for NCAA Div. II player of the year in 2013-14; and his father, Henry, played defensive end at East Carolina.
Tre' Coggins' father, Sanford, played quarterback and wide receiver at Texas (1977-80) and his uncle, Rich, was a major league outfielder for Baltimore (1972-74), Montreal (1975), New York AL (1975-76) and Chicago AL (1976).
Josh Gentry's parents, Derrick & Gretchen Gentry, both competed in track and field at Illinois in the early 1980s.
Lanerryl Johnson's great grandfather is former ABA and NBA star and Naismith Hall of Famer Gus Johnson. Lanerryl's cousin, Ricky, is a third-year starting point guard at Bethune Cookman.
Jordan Mason's father, Jerry, played basketball at Texas Tech.
Steve McClellan's brother, Darshawn, played in 95 games (2008-2011) of basketball at Vanderbilt.
Moses Morgan's father, Winston, played four seasons (1981-86) of basketball at Indiana.
Temjae Singleton's father, Eldridge Hudson, played four seasons (1982-83; 84-87) of basketball at UNLV after being selected the L.A. City's 4A Player of the Year in 1982 at Carson High School.
Corey Walker's brother, Taylor, played two seasons (2011-13) of basketball at LMU.
2013-14 RECAP
Cal State Fullerton's 2013-14 campaign came to a close on March 13, 2014, when the Titans suffered a 66-56 loss to Long Beach State in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament held at Honda Center. Fullerton completed the year with a record of 11-20 overall as well as a 6-10 mark in Big West play, which secured CSF the No. 6 seed at the Tournament.
• The Titan offense averaged 67.5 points per game last season, the lowest average for a Titan team since the 2002-03 season (62.9 ppg).
• The Titans completed the 2013-14 season with a winning record of 8-6 at Titan Gym, but a struggling mark of 3-12 on the road and a record of 0-2 at neutral site games.
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT TICKETS
Big West Basketball Tournament All-Session Tickets On Sale...
Honda Center and the Big West Conference have announced that all-session tickets for the 2015 Big West Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament are now on sale.
All-session school reserved tickets are available for $69.00. These seats are located within a school's section and can be purchased through each institution's box office.
Premium all-session tickets located in the first four rows of seating are available for $149.00. General admission all-session tickets are also available for $69.00. These seats can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster retail outlets, or by calling 800-745-3000.
The 2015 Big West Tournament will be hosted for the fifth-straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim. The women's tournament first round and quarterfinal games will be played at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 11. The men's tournament begins on Thursday, March 12 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place Friday and Saturday at Honda Center.
TITANS IN THE NBA
Former Cal State Fullerton guard Josh Akognon became the 12th former Titan to appear in the NBA on April 10, 2013, playing four minutes and scoring two points to go with an assist for the Dallas Mavericks in their 102-91 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. Akognon, who played two seasons for Fullerton in 2007-09, became the first Titan to appear in an NBA game since Bobby Brown (2003-07) competed for the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009-10 season.
Out of uniform, the Titans are represented in the NBA by former manager Wes Wilcox, now assistant general manager of the Atlanta Hawks; former administrative assistant Eric Glass, video coordinator for the Miami Heat; and former assistant coach Mark Warkentien, director of player personnel for the New York Knicks. Former guard Leon Wood is a veteran NBA official and former Daily Titan reporter Marc Stein is ESPN's NBA reporter.
NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE DRAFT
Four former members of the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball program were selected in the 2014 NBA Development League Draft on Nov. 1. D.J. Seeley (2012-13) was the first Titan selected as the first pick of the second round by the Delaware 87ers and he has made the final roster.Omondi Amoke (2012) was selected as the fifth pick of the second round by the Grand Rapids Drive. Michael Williams (2014), the 2014 Big West Newcomer of the Year, was selected as the 15th pick of the second round by the Sioux Fall Skyforce and he is listed on the final roster. Sammy Yeager (2013) was chosen as the ninth pick of the seventh round by the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
