FULLERTON, Calif.--- The Titans held the lead with just under three minutes remaining in the contest after Kyle Allman found Khalil Ahmad under the basket for a roof-raising dunk, but Weber State outscored Fullerton 15-10 down the stretch, outlasting the Titans 80-76, Thursday night in Titan Gym.
For Fullerton (17-15), the loss brings its record to 4-7 all-time in postseason play, but the 17 overall wins still goes down as the most since the 2011-12 campaign.
The Titans sported three players in double figures, as Ahmad led all Titans with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, clinching his 13th double figure scoring performance of the season. Allman chipped in with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting and a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Lionheart Leslie rounded out Fullerton's double figure scorers with 10 points and seven boards.
Austin Awosika led all Titans with nine rebounds and nearly notched a double-double with nine points to go along with the rebounds.
Weber State got to the free throw line 27 times, while Fullerton only shot 15 free throws on the evening.
The Titans won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Wildcats 40-26 in the paint, while also recording a 19-10 edge in second chance points. Fullerton's bench also played well, outscoring Weber State's 19-2.
The game featured 12 lead changes and nine ties, with the Titans going up by as many as 25-18 with 9:22 left in the first half. However, Weber State was able to close on a 17-8 run to take a slim 35-33 advantage into the intermission.
The Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders to begin the second half, at one point building their lead as high as 53-40 with 13:43 left in the game.
But as they've done all season long, the Titans battled back. Fullerton launched a furious 18-3 run, capped off by an Ahmad trey to take a 58-55 lead with just 6:36 remaining.
An Allman free throw gave Fullerton a 61-57 lead with 5:42 remaining, but unfortunately the Titans couldn't quite hang on.
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