ISLA VISTA, Calif. --- Cal State Fullerton dominated UC Santa Barbara Thursday night en route to a 79-53 victory at The Thunderdome in Isla Vista, Calif.
The Titans (10-11, 4-4) had five players score in double figures, led by guard Tre' Coggins and his 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Coggins was 6-for-9 from beyond the arc as the team collectively hit nine 3-pointers against the Gauchos (3-17, 1-7). Austen Awosika scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting in just 13 minutes off the bench while Jackson Rowe, Kyle Allman, and Khalil Ahmad each added 11 points.
Maxwell Kupchak led the Gauchos with 10 points, the only player to reach double figures for UCSB as the Titans held the hosts to just 35.2 percent shooting. The Titans also held guard Gabe Vincent to nine points in 16 minutes of action. The Gauchos guard came into Thursday night's game as the fourth leading scorer in the Big West. He was averaging 15.1 points a game and was held to single digits just twice this season prior to Thursday.
The Titans victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Gauchos and marked the first time Fullerton has won in The Thunderdome since Jan. 10, 2009.
The Titans took control of the game in the first half, utilizing a 9-0 run to break a 15-15 tie early in the period. Fullerton would go on to outscore the Gauchos, 24-10, in the final 12:26 to build a double-digit lead and they never looked back.
Ahmad scored 11 of his points in the first half, going 5-for-7 from the field and 1-for-2 from beyond the arc while Coggins added nine on three 3-pointers. Rowe also chipped in with six points and five rebounds in the first half.
The snowball continued to roll downhill for Fullerton in the second half as the Titans jumped out on an 8-1 scoring run out of the halftime break. At one point, the Titans led by 32 points, their biggest lead in a Big West Conference game this season.
Allman flirted with a triple double on Thursday night as he led the team with a career-high six assists and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds. As a team, Fullerton shot 50 percent from the field and made 10-of-16 from the charity stripe.
The Titans will be off for the next five days before heading back on the road on Wednesday, Feb. 7 to face UC Davis.
NOTES: Fullerton is now 3-0 when five players score in double figures… Fullerton had just nine turnovers on Thursday night… Fullerton dished out 14 assists on Thursday night and had more helpers than their opponent for the ninth time. They are 8-1 in those games… Thursday's win tied Fullerton's biggest win over the Gauchos in history. The Titans beat UCSB 84-58 on Feb. 12, 1983 in Santa Barbara… Thursday was the Titans biggest win over the Gauchos since March 1, 1997, a 74-60 win at Titan Gym. It was also the biggest win in Santa Barbara since Feb. 18, 1984 when Fullerton scored a 77-57 win.
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