FULLERTON, Calif. --- Cal State Fullerton shot the lights out in the second half to erase a double-digit deficit and lead the Titans to a 74-69 victory Saturday night at Titan Gym.
The Titans (11-12, 5-5) shot 68 percent from the field in the second half and hit 5-of-8 from downtown to storm back from 10 points down with 16:02 left in the game against the 49ers (11-16, 6-5). Khalil Ahmad led the charge for Fullerton, scoring 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, going 7-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from distance in the period. Tre' Coggins scored 22 points on the night and was 6-for-7 in the second half, hitting three of his four attempts from beyond the arc.
"It was a good 20 minutes that our ball club came back with after playing the first 20 minutes where I don't think our ball club showed much," said Cal State Fullerton head coach Dedrique Taylor. "Second half, (Tre') and (Khalil) got going but I thought our energy changed. I thought our purpose changed. I thought our defensive intensity picked up. More importantly, offensively we were able to find the basket and put the ball in the hole and I think that helped us energy wise."
Long Beach State jumped on the Titans from the opening tip, starting the game on a 7-0 run. They would take a 12-point lead before the Titans put together a 14-4 scoring run to trim the deficit to four. With the score 30-22, Lionheart Leslie hit a layup and then Coggins drilled a 3-pointer to cut the deficit down to three, but an Evan Payne 3-pointer put the 49ers up six at the break.
The second half started with a 3-pointer from Loren Jackson to put the 49ers up nine and then Evan Payne hit a 3-pointer to make it a 10-point lead at 39-29. The teams traded buckets to keep it at 10 before the Titans made their run.
Coggins hit a 3-pointer and then Jackson Rowe followed with a jumper in the paint to cut the deficit in half. Rowe then jumped the passing lane, collected his only steal of the game, and got the Titans into transition. He fed the ball to Leslie who then threw up and errant lob that Rowe was able to corral. He then tossed the back up to a trailing Ahmad who threw it down with two hands for a highlight jam and cut the deficit to three.
"To be honest, at the beginning of the year we did a photo shoot thing where we practiced that type of stuff so we kind of just put it into play there," Ahmad said.
The Titans would cut it to one, 44-43 after a dunk by Rowe and then Coggins hit another layup in transition off a steal by Austen Awosika to cap a 16-5 scoring run in a 5:04 span and give Fullerton its first lead of the game, 45-44, at the 12:21 mark.
The 49ers regained the lead briefly at 47-45 and then again at 49-47 before the Titans got a 3-pointer in the corner from Ahmad to put the Titans up 50-49. The team would never trail again as Ahmad hit a layup to break a 52-52 tie and give Fullerton a lead it would not relinquish.
"I mean, honestly it was just the mentality," Coggins said. "Coming into the second half, we knew that me and Khalil needed to get going if we were going to have a chance to win and everybody was feeding us the ball and trusting us to do what we do and that's all it was."
The Titans scored their first victory over Long Beach State in three years and snapped a six-game losing streak to the 49ers. Fullerton forced 10 turnovers in the second period and scored 13 points off the Long Beach State miscues. The Titans also dished out seven of their 11 assists in the second half.
"Anytime you have that type of rivalry you want to come out on top and tonight we did what we needed to do to win," Taylor said. "I'm more excited about the way that we found a way to win that game more than just a win against a rival. Obviously that's great; you put an asterisk by it but more importantly we're in the win column and we're fighting, trying to continue to play well and I thought the last 20 minutes was indicative of our group realizing how we needed to play to get a victory there."
The Titans are now 9-3 at home this season but will head on the road for their next game on Thursday night at UC Riverside. Both of Fullerton's road wins have come in conference play and the Titans scored a victory at UC Riverside last season.
"I think we just carry the momentum into the next game," Coggins said. "I feel like every away game we're in (it) and we just got to keep the same mentality and take control of the game; play at our pace and trust each other."
NOTES: Ahmad and Coggins each scored 20 points for the second time this season and first time since Dec. 22 against Portland. It was the third time overall this year that the Titans have had two players score 20-plus in one game… Fullerton's last win over Long Beach State came at Titan Gym on March 1, 2014; an 84-76 victory… Coggins surpassed the 800-point mark in his two-year Titans career on Saturday night. He entered the night at 799 and now sits at 821. He has scored 1,327 points overall in his NCAA Division I career... Saturday night marked the first time Ahmad led the Titans in scoring this season and the ninth time in his career.
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