Cal State Fullerton at CSUN
Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015 | 7 PM
The Matadome • Northridge, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State (ESPN3)
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 | 4:03 PM PST
Walter Pyramid • Long Beach, Calif.
Video: http://es.pn/1AsQd7p
Audio: http://www.kbeach.org/
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
THIS WEEK
The Titans (9-18, 1-11) play three of their final four regular season games on the road and they most likely must win Thursday night at CSUN to have a post-season game. They play at Long Beach State on Saturday before finishing up in Orange County the following week with a March 5 game at UC Irvine and a home finale vs. Hawai'i on March 7.
BIG WEST TOURNEY PICTURE
Only eight teams qualify for the Big West Tournament and Fullerton begins the week in ninth place, a half game behind CSUN. Win in Northridge and the Titans would move ahead a notch and secure the head-to-head tie-breaker with the Matadors, thus controlling their own destiny. Lose in Northridge and the Titans would fall two games back in the win column with three to 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 6-7 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 at home, losing by similar scores of 65-54 to Cal Poly and 69-54 to UC Santa Barbara in dissimilar fashion. Fullerton led Cal Poly by 4 points a few minutes into the second half but gave up a 20-4 spurt as the Mustangs made 4 of 5 3-point tries. A torrid first half gave UCSB a 49-30 halftime lead but the Titans fought back and got as close as 10 points while holding the Gauchos to only 20 second-half points. Leading scorer Alex Harris (16.1 ppg) did not suit for either game.
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at CSUN
Thur., Feb. 26, 7 p.m. | The Matadome
The Matadors
CSUN has been playing most of the season with six regulars and one or two substitutes due to eligibility issues. They are 5-9 at home and 2-13 away tom the Matadome. The Matadors snapped an 8-game losing streak with an 89-61 non-conference win over Bethesda last Tuesday before losing at UC Irvine on Saturday 67-58. Stephan Hicks (15.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Stephen Maxwell (14.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg) dominate the team's statistics. CSUN leads the Big West in free-throw percentage at 76.3 but is last in 3-point FG percentage at 30.9. Their two conference wins came back-to-back at UCSB and home vs. Cal Poly in mid-January.
Head-to-Head
The Titans lead the all-time series, 40-31, and have won five of the last seven meetings. The teams have split the last four games in Northridge but Fullerton won seven in a row from 2004 to 2010.
Last Meeting
The TItans picked up their first Big West Conference victory with a 69-53 decision on Feb. 5 in Titan Gym. Josh Gentry had a career high with 19 points and Steve McClellan had an impressive double-double with season-highs of 15 points and 14 rebounds (tie). Alex Harris did not play in the first half but finished with 10 points including back-to-back 3-pointers for a 59-41 lead with about 9 minutes to play. CSUN never got closer than 14 points. Stephan Hicks had 16 points and 9 rebounds and Aaron Parks scored 11 points.
at Long Beach State
Sat., Feb. 28, 4:03 p.m. | Walter Pyramid
The 49ers
Long Beach State travels to Hawai'i before hosting the Titans in an ESPN3 telecast. The 49ers have lost four in a row to tumble into fourth place in the Big West. The slide began after a 6-game winning streak with a last-second loss to UC Irvine at home and was followed by double-digit losses at UCSB and Cal Poly before a 7-point home loss to first-place UC Davis. Guard Mike Caffey is the key man at 16.8 ppg, 3.5 apg and 3.8 rpg. Forward David Samuels has come on strong of late and is averaging 10.2 points and 7.0 rebounds.
Head-to-Head
The 49ers are the most frequent Titan opponent all-time and this will be the 111th meeting in the series. Long Beach holds a 66-44 advantage on the floor but both teams have forfeited wins due to infractions. Long Beach has won 8 of the last 10 since a span where the Titans won 6 of 7. Fullerton has lost four in a row in the Walter Pyramid.
Last Meeting
Fullerton had a 71-60 lead with less than 4 minutes to play on Jan. 29 in Titan Gym. But Travis Hammonds scored inside, the Titans turned the ball over three consecutive times and Mike Caffey hit back-to-back 3-point baskets and it was a 71-68 game less than a minute later. Caffey would hit another trey to tie the game at 73 and a layup for a draw at 75. Alex Harris missed a jumper at the buzzer and Long Beach won the overtime period, 16-10, for a 91-85 decision.
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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 ELEVEN 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 and at home vs. Cal Poly and the first half at home vs. UCSB. The 11 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
• vs. Cal Poly the Titans led by 4 early in the second half but gave up a 20-4 run and eventually fell behind by as many as 20 points
• vs. UCSB they trailed by 19 at the half, 24 later, closed to 61-51... but scored only 3 points in final 8:30.
BIG WEST STATS
(in All games)
• the Titans rank 4th in rebound margin at +1.5
• individually, Josh Gentry ranks 1st in free-throw percentage (.932)
• Steve McClellan ranks 1st in rebounding (8.4)
• 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 (.840), 12th in scoring (12.2), 10th in made 3-pointers (1.81) and 6th in 3-pt percentage (.419)
(in Big West games only)
• Steve McClellan is 1st in rebounding (9.9)
• Josh Gentry is 1st in free-throw percentage (.939 - 31 of 33)
• Lanerryl Johnson is 9th in scoring (12.8) and 3rd in FT percentage (.865)
• Alex Harris is 3rd in scoring (17.1), 5th in steals (1.67) and 11th in assists (3.00)
WELL EXPOSED
With the late addition of the game at Long Beach State on Saturday 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 IN CLUB 1,000
Senior guard Alex Harris has been stuck on 1,141 career points after getting 11 at UC Davis and sitting out the last 3 games due to a thigh 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 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. The injury appears to have cost him a shot at 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 six games in which he played his point totals have been 8, 4, 28, 10, a career high of 31 and 11. 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 568 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 11 different starting lineups this season including eight different ones in the past 11 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
Forward Steve McClellan leads the Titans averaging 8.4 rebounds per game. 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 53.6 percent (75-of-140) 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 but since then has scored only 22 total points in the last 5 games.
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. The next two games he totaled only 14 points in two starts but bounced back to net 37 (21 & 16) in the following two. Then he went scoreless at home vs. CSUN and UCR but in the last four games (3 starts) has averaged 14.8 points.
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 23 points in the last five games.
ESUME EMERGING
Kennedy Esume has averaged 7.8 points over the last five games topped by a season's best 16 (on 8 of 11 shooting) vs. Cal Poly on Feb. 19.
MASON CHIPS IN
Jordan Mason has averaged 8.5 points over the last four games and his 34 total points are second on the squad over the last four to only Lanerryl Johnson (59).
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.
