Game 26
Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State
Date: Saturday
Time: 7:30 p.m. (PT)
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Venue: Walter Pyramid
TV: Prime Ticket
Live Stats: fullertontitans.com
Series Record: LBSU leads 67-44
Weekly Release (.pdf)
THIS WEEK
Playing its fourth road game in its last five contests, the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team returns to action at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at Walter Pyramid vs. Long Beach State. The rivalry game will be aired on Prime Ticket. Fullerton, currently on a four-game losing streak, suffered a 96-77 loss to UC Irvine on Wednesday night at Titan Gym.
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
Long Beach State | 7:30 p.m. (PT) Saturday, Feb. 20 | Walter Pyramid
It's certainly a rivalry as LBSU's highest attended conference game in each of the last seven seasons is when the Titans come to town with an average of 4,658 at Walter Pyramid. The 49ers are on a five-game winning streak and have just one game this week when the Titans visit on Saturday. Current Big West Conference Player of the Week Gabe Levin averaged 17.0 points per game in a pair of wins over UC Davis and Cal Poly last week.
Head-To-Head: A series that dates back to 1960, Saturday will mark the 112th meeting between Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton - the longest series for the Titans. Fullerton has lost three straight to the 49ers with the last win, 84-76, on March 1, 2014 at Titan Gym. The Titans were last victorious in Long Beach on Feb. 4, 2010 by the score of 81-75 in overtime.
Last Meeting: Two teams burdened by lengthy losing streaks clashed on Feb. 28, 2015 at Walter Pyramid. One shot about 50 percent for most of the game while the other shot 33 percent and compounded it with making only 15 of 27 free throws to go with 16 turnovers.
Long Beach State was the former team and the 49ers snapped a 5-game skid with an easy 70-47 win over the latter, Cal State Fullerton, which lost its seventh in a row.
Travis Hammonds led a balanced stat sheet for the 49ers (14-16, 8-6) with 16 points. Mike Caffey added 13 and David Samuels had 12. No Titan player broke into double figures with Kennedy Esume leading the way with 9 points.
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
Despite four scorers in double figures, the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team couldn't sustain its offensive output in the second half as the Titans relinquished a seven-point lead and suffered a 96-77 loss to UC Irvine on Wednesday night at Titan Gym.
After matching a season high scoring 42 points in the first half, the Titans (9-16, 2-10 BWC) were held to a 35-point performance in the final 20 minutes as UCI (20-7, 9-2 BWC) outscored Fullerton 55-29 for the closing 16 minutes of the game.
UCI shot 76.0 percent (19-of-25) from the field in the second half, including 9-of-11 from three-point range (.818).
Jaron Martin led the Anteaters with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench, while Mamadou Ndiaye scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Alex Young added 13 points and totaled five assists, while Luke Nelson produced a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 10 assists.
Malcolm Brooks led the Titans with a 22-point performance on an 8-of-17 shooting night while also matching a season best knocking down six buckets from three-point range. Tre' Coggins scored 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting knocking down three treys.
Khalil Ahmad scored 13 points, 11 in the first half, while Lionheart Leslie added 12 off the bench.
AHMAD ON FIRE
Freshman Khalil Ahmad has started in all 12 Big West Conference games for Cal State Fullerton and during that time he has averaged 16.9 points per game to lead the Titans. He is the top scoring freshman in the Big West Conference averaging 14.8 ppg.
ROAD WARRIORS
Cal State Fullerton closes out the final month of the regular season playing five of its last eight games on the road. This season the Titans are 4-9 in away games. Three of the Titans' five road games have taken place in the last two weeks: UCSB (Feb. 6), CSUN (Feb. 10), Hawaii (Feb. 13) and Long Beach State (Saturday).
ENTERING THE RECORD BOOKS
Redshirt junior guard Tre' Coggins etched his name into the Cal State Fullerton record books with a career-best performance against CSUN in which he poured in 41 points to rank second all-time in the single-game annals. He also went 17-for-17 from the free throw line to set a Big West Conference record. Coggins is the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 13, 2008. With 41 points, Coggins now ties for second for most points scored in the CSF record single-game record book. He is tied with Akognon, who reached the feat twice in 2008, and sits behind Bobby Brown who tallied 47 points in 2006 against Bethune-Cookman.
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. Senior center Kennedy Esume notched a double-double of his own as he registered a season-high 11 points to go along with 14 rebounds against Cal State East Bay. Lionheart Leslie notched his first double-double as a Titan against Hawai'i with 17 points and 10 rebounds - both career-highs for Leslie. Most recently, Jamar Akoh made his way into the group with a double-double at UC Davis with a career-high 14 points to go along with 10 boards. The sophomore forward recorded his second double-double of the year scoring 12 points and adding 11 rebounds in a 75-67 loss at CSUN.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
The Titans' post players did a soild job of cleaning up the glass against UC Davis on Feb. 4. The trio of Kennedy Esume, Jamar Akoh and Tim Myles combined for 32 rebounds as they helped Cal State Fullerton out-rebound Davis 51-33 in a contest in which the Titan defense held the Aggies to just 22 percent shooting in the second half. On the year, Akoh is leading the Titans with an average of 6.3 rebounds per game.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• The first half vs. UC Irvine on Wednesday contained the Titans most productive first 20 minutes of basketball during the season as the CSUF matched season bests with points (42) and assists (11) and set season highs in field goal percentage (.571) and 3-pointers made (7).
• On the flip side, against the Anteaters on Wednesday, the Titans allowed the most points (96), most field goals made (34), highest field goal percentage (.607), most 3-pointers (13), highest 3-point field goal percentage (.542) and assists (27) for an opponent this season.
• The freshmen duo of Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman Jr., led the Titans at UC Irvine on Jan. 20, combining for 37 of the team's 59 points (nearly 63 percent). The pair have combined for 502 points on the year.
• Lionheart Leslie recorded the first double-double of his Titan career with 17 points and 10 rebounds against Hawai'i - both of which are new career-highs.
• The Titans have suffered through a pair of losing streaks this season after having dropped five games in a row from Dec. 6 - Dec. 29, then falling in six straight games from Jan. 9 - Jan. 30. With the 61-57 win against UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton put an end to its most recent streak.
• Junior forward Rashard Todd has decided to leave the team.
• Redshirt senior guard Lanerryl Johnson has decided to leave the team.
BWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK - TIMES TWO
Tre' Coggins has been named Big West Player of the Week on two occasions this season.
Coggins collected his second honor after posting a career-best 41 points against CSUN to rank second in the Cal State Fullerton single-game record book, while becoming the first Titan in eight years to reach the 40-point plateau.
Additionally, Coggins tied a Big West single-game free throw percentage record as he connected on all 17 attempts. He is just the second player in league history to accomplish such a feat. He finished the week shooting 95.7 percent (22-of-23) from the free throw line.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Prime Ticket has selected Cal State Fullerton's men's basketball game at Long Beach State on Saturday, Feb. 20, as a wild card selection for a live television broadcast. The 7:30 p.m., contest will be played at Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.
Most recently, ESPN selected the Titans home game against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 27 to be televised on ESPN3. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 11 television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes seven appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and two on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE
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.
Fans can call the Cal State Fullerton ticket office to purchase all-session tickets as well at: 657-279-CSUF.
The 2016 Big West Tournament will be hosted for the sixth straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim. The men's tournament begins on Thursday, March 10 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at Honda Center.
Additional ticket information for the 2016 Big West Basketball Tournament is available at HondaCenter.com. For up to date team schedules and general information regarding the 2016 Big
West Basketball Tournament, please visit BigWestTournament.com.
ON DECK FOR THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton will travel to Cal Poly on Thursday before hosting UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Titan Gym.