Game 9
Cal State Fullerton vs. Loyola Marymount
Date: Saturday, Dec. 12
Time: 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: Fullerton, Calif.
Venue: Titan Gym
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
Live Streaming: FullertonTitans.com
Internet Radio: FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: CSF leads 13-12
THIS WEEK
After going 2-1 last week, Cal State Fullerton returns to Titan Gym to play host to Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. The contest marks the second meeting between the two teams this season after both squads kicked off the season against each other last month.
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 HERE.
Titan Athletics is partnering with Toys for Tots and Stuff-A-Bus for their annual toy drive this year! On Saturday, Dec. 12, bring a new and unwrapped toy to Will Call at the Men's Basketball game versus LMU and receive complimentary General Admission into the game. All toys collected will be donated on behalf of the Titans to the Stuff-A-Bus toy drive on Friday, Dec. 18, at the Honda Center. Members of our Spirit Squad, along with Tuffy, and our student-athletes will be helping out at this event.
OPPONENTS & HISTORY
Loyola Marymount | 6 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 12 | Titan Gym
Loyola Marymount comes into Titan Gym with a 5-4 overall record. The Lions are coming off of a 67-66 loss at Boise State on Wednesday night. This season, LMU is 3-1 against the Big West after opening the year with a 79-74 win over Cal State Fullerton and defeating CSUN (82-80) in overtime and UC Riverside, 77-76. The Lions only loss to a Big West team came at UC Irvine on Nov. 15 when they fell 77-53 to the Anteaters. Loyola Marymount has three players averaging double-figures in Adom Jacko (14.2 ppg), Brandon Brown (14.2 ppg) and Steven Haney (10.6 ppg). Jacko also leads the Lions in rebounding with 5.6 boards per game.
Head-To-Head: The all-time series between the Titans and the Lions is 13-12 in Cal State Fullerton's favor. LMU has won the last four meetings, including a season-opening win earlier this year. Fullerton is looking for its first win over Loyola Marymount since 2001.
Last Meeting: Kennedy Esume grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds and Cal State Fullerton had four double-figure scorers in Malcolm Brooks (16 points), Khalil Ahmad (12 points), Tre' Coggins (12 points) and Lanerryl Johnson (10 points), but the Titans were unable to overcome 18 turnovers, 26 fouls and a 22-point effort from Adom Jacko as Loyola Marymount went on to win the game 79-74.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
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.
LAST TIME OUT
Although the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team had four players notch career-highs, the Titans could not overcome 24 fouls and 20 turnovers as they dropped an 87-69 decision to Washington Sunday night.
With the loss, the Titans saw their six-game winning streak come to an end as they dropped to 6-2 on the year. The Huskies improved to 5-2 behind a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) from Andrew Andrews and double-figure scoring efforts from Dejounte Murray (17 points) and Matisse Thybulle (16 points).
Malcolm Brooks equaled his career-high with 20 points, a feat he has reached in back-to-back games. He shot 54.5-percent from the field after connecting on 6-of-11 field goals. Brooks was the leading scorer on the night as he led Lionheart Leslie and Lanerryl Johnson in double-figures.
Leslie registered a career-best 16 points for the Titans and Johnson added 13 points. Leslie shot 4-for-5 from the field, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 5-for-6 from the stripe.
Jamar Akoh also turned in a career-performance as he cleaned up the glass collecting seven rebounds. He also added three points, two assists and one steal.
Rounding out the Titans in career-bests was Kennedy Esume who grabbed three steals to lead the squad to a total of 10 steals in the game.
The Titans started out the first half hot as they took an early 4-0 lead and extended that lead to 11 points (20-9) at 12:06, however, 19 fouls and 12 turnovers in the frame allowed the Huskies to get back into the game. Washington's Thybulle hit a three at 4:24 that gave the Huskies their first lead of the game; a lead they would never relinquish.
The Huskies heated up offensively in the second half as they shot 50-percent from the field (17-for-34), while their defense limited the Titans to just 27.3-percent shooting. Washington outscored Fullerton 41-32 in the frame and pushed its lead to as many as 22 (76-54).
Cal State Fullerton managed to cut the 22-point deficit down to 14 points (76-62) after a three pointer from Leslie at 5:34. But that was as close as the Titans would come as the Huskies surged ahead and won the game 87-69.
BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the first time in his career, Tre' Coggins was named Big West Conference Player of the Week after recording back-to-back career-high 25-point efforts to lead the Titans to a 2-0 record last week.
The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native, registered his first 25-point effort in an 80-66 victory over Southern Utah, then came back and poured in another 25 points in a 75-66 win over Nevada helping Cal State Fullerton improve to 4-1 on the season to equal the Titans' best start since 2007-08.
The 6-3 guard shot 45.7-percent (16-of-35) from the field overall and an impressive 52.9-percent (9-for-17) from three-point range.
On the year, Coggins is leading the Titans in scoring with 14.9 points per game, while he adds 4.5 rebounds per game, 14 assists, 11 steals and two blocks.
HOT START
Cal State Fullerton opened the season winning 6-of-7 games to mark its best start since the 1986-87 school year when the Titans began the year with a 7-1 record. While putting together a 6-1 record, Fullerton rode a six-game winning streak, the longest such streak for the program since the 2011-12 season.
LET'S GO STREAKING
The Titans compiled a six-game winning streak as they defeated Pacific (77-76), San Diego (67-55), Southern Utah (80-66), Nevada (75-66), Cal State Dominguez Hills (88-56) and Seattle (70-61). The straight wins was the most Fullerton has strung together since the 2011-12 season when it won six straight games during the month of February.
DOUBLE VISION
Freshman guard Khalil Ahmad recorded his first double-double of his collegiate career in an 88-56 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills. Ahmad tallied 15 points as he shot 60-percent overall (6-of-10) and led the squad with a career-high 12 rebounds. He also added four assists and one steal. He is the only Titan to have recorded a double-double so far this season.
CAREER WEEK
During a recent road trip to Seattle, Cal State Fullerton had several players turn in career-best performances. First, the Titans defeated Seattle behind three career-best efforts. Leading the way was Malcolm Brooks who poured in a career-high 20 points. Sheldon Blackwell added a career-best eight rebounds in the contest, seven of which were defensive boards. Finally, Lionheart Leslie dished out a career-high five assists. Leslie also connected on 8-of-8 free throws. The Titans followed those career-best performances with four more at Washington. In that contest, Brooks equaled his career-high with 20 points again, while Leslie registered a career-best 16 points and Jamar Akoh cleaned up the glass collecting a career-high seven rebounds. Rounding out the Titans in career-bests was Kennedy Esume who grabbed three steals to lead the squad to a total of 10 in the game.
BIG GAME
Junior forward Rashard Todd had a big game for the Titans against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Tuesday as he helped lead Cal State Fullerton to an 88-56 win over the Toros. Todd came off the bench and recorded a career-best 19 points to lead a quartet of double-figure scorers. He finished the game connecting on 7-of-8 field goals, 3-of-4 three-pointers and 2-of-3 free throws. Todd also added a season-high five boards, two steals, one block and one assist.
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
The Titans have three players on the squad who are averaging double-figures in Tre' Coggins (14.9 ppg), Malcolm Brooks (13.8 ppg) and Khalil Ahmad (11.1 ppg). Following close behind the trio is Lanerryl Johnson who is averaging 9.9 points per game. As a team, the Titans have outscored their opponents 75.0 points per game to 68.2 for a scoring margin of 6.8.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
Senior center Kennedy Esume grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds in the Titans' season-opener at Loyola Marymount. He finished the game just one board shy of hitting the 20-rebound plateau. The last time a Titan recorded 20 rebounds in a game was in 2012 when former Titan Omondi Amoke grabbed 21 boards against UC Irvine. Esume is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game to lead the team, while Jamar Akoh is second on the squad with an average of 4.9 rebounds per game.
HELPING HANDS
The Titans have done a soild job this season of playing as a team and sharing the assist duties. Leading the way for Cal State Fullerton is Lionheart Leslie with 18 assists on the year, while Tre' Coggins is second on the team with 14 helpers. Both Lanerryl Johnson and Sheldon Blackwell have contributed 13 assists each, while Khalil Ahmad has posted 12.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• Head Coach Dedrique Taylor has juggled the Titans' line up a bit early in the season. He has used four different combinations and all have been successful with Cal State Fullerton starting the year 6-2.
• Redshirt junior guard Tre' Coggins had a pair of career games at Southern Utah and versus Nevada as he poured in a career-best 25 point effort in both games en route to being named Big West Conference Player of the Week.
• Freshman guard Khalil Ahmad turned in the first 20-plus point effort of his collegiate career as he drained a career-high 22 points at Southern Utah. The Corona, Calif., native finished the night shooting 70-percent from the floor (7-for-10), 100-percent from three-point range (4-for-4) and 80-percent from the line (4-for-5).
• After opening the season with a career-high 19 rebounds, senior center Kennedy Esume has yet to record double-digit rebounds since. However, he still leads the Titans with 49 boards on the year for an average of 6.1 per game.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of nine television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes six appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and one on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE
Honda Center and the Big West Conference have announced that all-session tickets for the 2016 Big West Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament will go on sale Friday, November 13.
All-session school reserved tickets will be available for $69.00. These seats will be 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 will be 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 sixth straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim. The women's tournament first round and quarterfinal games will be played at UC Irvine on March 8-9. The men's tournament begins on March 10 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place March 11 and 12 at the Honda Center.
ON DECK FOR THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton travels to Portland, Ore., to compete in the Far West Classic against Oregon State (Dec. 18 at 8 p.m.) and Portland (Dec. 19 at 5:30 p.m.). Friday's contest versus Oregon State will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.