Game 11
Cal State Fullerton vs. Portalnd
Date: Saturday, Dec. 19
Time: 5:30 p.m. (PT)
Location: Portland, Ore.
Venue: Moda Center
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Live Streaming: WCCSports.com
Internet Radio: PortlandPilots.com
Series Record: CSF leads 7-6
THIS WEEK
Cal State Fullerton concludes its play in the Far West Classic Saturday, Dec. 19, at 5:30 p.m., against Portland. Live stats are available on StatBroadcast.com.
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.
OPPONENTS & HISTORY
Portland | 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 19 | Moda Center
Portland, the other co-host of the Far West Classic, brings a 5-6 record into the tournament. The Pilots are coming off of an 81-73 victory over Sacramento State. Alec Wintering and Bryce Pressley are the two top scorers for the Pilots. Wintering averages 14.2 points per game, while Pressley contributes 12.3. Wintering has dished out a team-leading 69 assists on the year to go along with 22 steals - both of which are team highs. Pressley is also the squad's leader in rebounding as he averages 5.2 boards per game.
Head-To-Head: Cal State Fullerton holds a slight lead in the all-time series against Portland as the Titans have won seven games, while the Pilots have won six. Although Portland defeated Fullerton, 95-52, in their last meeting in 1998, the Titans had won the previous five match ups.
Last Meeting: Portland's Jimmie Rainwater poured in 22 points to lead the Pilots over the Titans, 95-52. Cal State Fullerton was led by Ike Harmon who contributed 13 points and seven rebounds in the game.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
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LAST TIME OUT
Although Cal State Fullerton had a trio of players reach double-figures, 23 fouls led to 22 made free throws for Oregon State as the Beavers defeated the Titans, 82-69, at the Far West Classic.
The loss is the third in a row for the Titans as they drop to 6-4 overall, while the Beavers improve to 7-2 on the year.
Oregon State's Gary Payton II led all scorers with 19 points as the Beavers shot 48.1-percent from the field. Malcolm Duvivier (15 points), Tres Tinkle (13 points) and Stephen Thompson, Jr., (10 points) rounded out the double-figure scorers for OSU.
For the Titans, Malcolm Brooks and Khalil Ahmad each contributed 18 points, while Tre' Coggins posted 16. Tim Myles recorded a career-best six rebounds in the game, while Coggins added five. Ahmad had a solid second half as 14 of his points came in the final 10 minutes of action as did his two steals.
Brooks got the game started with a layup followed by a made free throw. The Titans increased their lead to as many as five (17-12) at 12:23 in the first half, before the Beavers began to chip away at their lead.
The two teams traded leads several times before a Duvivier three-pointer gave the Beavers a 25-24 advantage they would not relinquish. The Beavers would increase their lead to 12 (44-32) by halftime.
As he did to start the game, Brooks kicked off the second half with a layup. However, the Beavers would go on a 7-0 run, pushing their lead to 51-34, forcing Cal State Fullerton head coach Dedrique Taylor to call for a timeout.
Following the break in action, Fullerton went on a run of its own as the Titans pulled within 10 (53-43) at the 14-minute mark, at which point Oregon State took a 30-second timeout to regroup.
The Titans and Beavers battled over the next several minutes and Cal State Fullerton managed to cut Oregon State's lead to nine (68-59) on a Brooks three-pointer at 7:15. Despite the Titans' efforts, the Beavers continued to hold a comfortable lead before extending their advantage back up to 18 points (78-60) with less than five minutes remaining in the game.
Cal State Fullerton refused to quit as the Titans continued to chip away at the Beavers' lead. However, CSF was unable to close the gap as it fell 82-69.
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 15.3 points per game, while he adds 4.5 rebounds per game, 18 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.
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.
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
The Titans have three players on the squad who are averaging double-figures in Tre' Coggins (15.3 ppg), Malcolm Brooks (14.2 ppg) and Khalil Ahmad (11.0 ppg). As a team, the Titans have outscored their opponents by 2.9 points per game and are out-shooting their counterparts 42-percent to 40.4-percent.
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 5.4 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 23 assists on the year, while Tre' Coggins is second on the team with 18 helpers. As a team, the Titans have accumulated 121 assists for an average of 12.1 per game.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• Junior Malcolm Brooks has been on an offensive tear as of late. He poured in a career-high 20 points on two occasions and has notched double figures in eight games to lead the Titans.
• 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
Following the Titans' participation in the Far West Classic, Cal State Fullerton will take a 10 day hiatus for the holiday break before making a return trip to Portland, Ore., to take on Portland State on Tuesday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m.