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FULLERTON, Calif. – For the second time in as many games redshirt junior guard Tre' Coggins racked up 25 points to help lift Cal State Fullerton to victory. In today's contest, Coggins matched his career-high in a 75-66 win over Nevada to give the Titans their fourth straight win of the season as they improve to 4-1, while the Wolf Pack drops to 4-2.
"That was a really good win for our program," Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Dedrique Taylor said. "We found a way to execute in stretches which I thought separated us down the stretch. We made a couple runs that put us over the top."
The Titans received several strong performances on the night as redshirt senior guard Lanerryl Johnson tallied a season-high 18 points for his fourth double-digit effort of the year.
Cal State Fullerton also turned in 11 offensive rebounds as sophomore forward Jamar Akoh and freshman guard Khalil Ahmad each grabbed five boards in the game. Ahmad added seven points with one steal and one assist, while Akoh posted five points with two blocks, one steal and one assist.
Nevada was led by Eric Cooper, Jr., and Tyron Criswell who had 19 and 11 points, respectively. Lindsey Drew led the Wolf Pack with seven rebounds, while Marqueze Coleman dished out four assists and Cameron Oliver had three blocks.
Cal State Fullerton used a strong second half to overcome a nine-point deficit in the first half as the Titans scored 46 points in the frame as Coggins and Johnson poured in 14 and 11 points, respectively.
"I think it came down to who could play harder for longer," Taylor explained. "I think our group was able to outlast them in stretches by playing harder, getting stops and getting to the front of the rim. If you look back at the game, those stretches where we were able to get several stops, those were the differences in the second half."
The Titans started the game with seven quick points, but Nevada countered and evened the score within the first four minutes of action. The Wolf Pack pushed its lead to as many as nine (21-12) at the 7:21 mark of the first half, but the Titans continued to play their game and chipped away at the lead until they knotted the score back at 25-all on a pair of made free throws by Lionheart Leslie, who went on to finish the game with seven total points, three boards, three steals and a pair of assists.
The first half ended with the two teams trading points and the Wolf Pack took a one-point edge (30-29) into the locker room.
Following halftime, Cal State Fullerton came out determined and opened the frame with a long jumper from Coggins just 21 seconds into the half. Nevada countered and the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 36-36 with 17:36 left to play.
Coggins hit a three at 17:06 which opened up a 9-2 run for the Titans – the first of several runs for Fullerton in the second half. Just as Nevada started coming back, CSF went on an 11-2 run to push its lead back up to 11 (54-43).
The Wolf Pack scored another four points before the Titans were at it again. Cal State Fullerton used another scoring run to extend its lead back up to 11 (58-47) at the 8:15 mark. This trend continued over the remaining eight minutes of action and the Titans led by as many as 15 (69-54) before winning the contest, 75-66.
"I'm really excited for our ball club and I'm really excited for our program with our win tonight, but I don't want to get too excited because we still have a lot of work to do," Taylor said. "The potential is there for us to be different."
Cal State Fullerton opens the month of December with a Tuesday contest against Cal State Dominquez Hills at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1. Live stats and video will be available on FullertonTitans.com.
