FULLERTON, Calif. --- Freshman Jackson Rowe set a new career high and the Titans snapped a three-game losing streak with a 81-71 Big West Conference victory over Cal Poly Saturday night at Titan Gym.
The Titans (9-11, 3-4) hammered the Mustangs (6-15, 1-6) on the glass on Saturday night, doubling up 37-18 and holding Cal Poly; a team that came in to the game averaging 11.7 offensive rebounds a game, to just five on the offensive glass.
"For us to come out and have that type of performance against a team that gets a lot of buckets off of offensive rebounds, I thought our team was on task and on point tonight," said Cal State Fullerton head coach Dedrique Taylor.
For the second time this season, Fullerton had five players tally double figures. Rowe led all scorers with 24 points, his first career 20-point game and his 12th game scoring in double figures. Tre' Coggins bounced back after a scoreless game at Long Beach State, pouring in 16 points on an efficient 5-for-9 shooting. He hit one 3-pointer and drained all five of his free throw attempts. Kyle Allman notched his second straight double-digit effort, dropping 13 in a team-high 36 minutes. Khalil Ahmad added 12 points and Lionheart Leslie scored 10 to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
"I felt like offense was cooking," Taylor said. "We had five guys in double figures and the thing I was most proud of was that we had 16 assists. I think the other stat that jumps off the page is 89 percent from the free throw line."
Victor Joseph led the Mustangs with 22 points while Ridge Shipley added 14 points and Donovan Fields had 11.
Along with leading the way in scoring, Rowe was the top distributor on the team with four assists on the night, tying his career high,
"I'm just trying to get my teammates open shots because I know they are trying to do the same for me," Rowe said.
The freshman is now averaging 10.4 points a game and 11.1 in conference play. He shot 8-for-12 on Saturday night, improving his already team best percentage on the season to 57.6 percent.
"I feel like, as the season goes on, I'm getting more comfortable and being able to control myself more instead of playing more wild," Rowe said.
Allman also had a solid game and attacked the paint relentlessly on his way to his 10th double-digit scoring game of the season and fifth in the last seven.
"I've always gone to the basket and I just kept that going," Allman said. "The guys I was on the floor with, people have to pay so much attention to them that I just feed off them."
After a couple of games where the Titans got off to slow starts, Fullerton came out of the gate well, shooting 13-for-24 (54.2 percent) from the field and getting 10 points apiece from Coggins and Rowe in the first 20 minutes. The Mustangs led by three on a couple of occasions in the first half but the Titans mounted a 14-4 scoring run over a 3:13 span to take the lead and they went into the locker room up by seven.
The Titans maintained that lead in the second half, going up 57-50 with 10:52 to play. But the Mustangs rallied and mounted a 7-0 run to tie the score for the first time since the 9:47 mark of the first half when the teams were deadlocked at 18-18. But the Titans responded with a 7-1 run to regain a two-possession cushion. Cal Poly cut it to four twice but Fullerton had an answer each time. Coggins drilled a jumper in the paint to make it 67-61 and then Rowe muscled an offensive rebound away from a Mustangs player under the basket and hit a right-handed layup off glass to put the Titans up 69-63 and ignite a 6-0 run to give Fullerton the 10-point lead they would not relinquish.
The Titans return to action Thursday night on the road as they head to UC Santa Barbara for the first meeting between the two teams this season.
NOTES: Rowe led the Titans in scoring in a game for the first time this season. His eight field goals and three 3-pointers made were also career highs… Fullerton outscored Cal Poly 32-16 in the paint, the 17th time the Titans have led in that category this season… The Titans are 2-0 when five players score in double-digits this season and 9-5 when three or more players score in double digits… Saturday night's attendance of 1,024 was a season high… Fullerton won its third game this season when it hits less 3-pointers than its opponent… Fullerton swept the season series from Cal Poly for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
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