FULLERTON, Calif. --- Cal State Fullerton surged late and pulled out a nail-biter Wednesday night, edging first-place UC Irvine 56-54 in a Big West Conference tilt at Titan Gym.
The Titans (14-12, 8-5) snagged their fourth straight win and sixth in the last seven games with a staunch defensive effort against the Anteaters (16-13, 9-4), holding UC Irvine to 34.7 percent shooting from the field and forcing 15 turnovers that turned into 12 Titans points.
Lionheart Leslie scored nine of his 11 points in the second half to go along with a couple of pivotal steals while Jackson Rowe pulled down timely rebounds late to push the Titans past UC Irvine for their first win over their Orange County rival since Feb. 9, 2012, snapping a 10-game losing streak to the Anteaters.
"Credit this group of guys," said Cal State Fullerton head coach Dedrique Taylor. "I couldn't be more happy for them; I couldn't be more proud of them. Tonight's game was an extremely different type of game than the ones we've played up to this point but they found a way."
Rowe finished the game with his fourth double-double, pouring in 12 points to go with 12 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass. Rowe helped spearhead a Fullerton effort on the glass that saw the Titans pull down 47 rebounds including 19 offensive boards, which led to 14 second-chance points, helping Fullerton erase a six-point second-half deficit.
"Resilient," Taylor said. "Right now that typifies our ball club. That is our identity right now is being resilient and I couldn't be more proud of them because they've put in some work; they've made some sacrifices and we're starting to kind of see the payoff. It's a huge win tonight."
Tre' Coggins led the Titans with 17 points and three steals while Leslie finished with a game-high four steals. Arkim Robertson added five points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench while playing solid defense on Anteaters' big-man Ioannis Dimakopoulos, leading an effort that held UC Irvine's second leading scorer in Big West play to just seven points on 1-for-7 shooting.
The defensive battle started from the jump as the Titans held UC Irvine to 36 percent shooting while the Anteaters limited the Titans to 28 percent from the field and 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. The teams were tied four times and traded the lead on six occasions in the first half alone before Jaron Martin hit three straight 3-pointers to put UCI up by six, 26-20, with 4:28 left in the half.
The Titans trimmed that in half by the buzzer thanks to a fast-break dunk by Jackson Rowe and a layup off an offensive rebound by Lionheart Leslie.
In the second half, the Anteaters built the lead back to six, 39-33, with a 3-pointer from Martin. That is when the Titans made their move, putting together an 8-0 run to take a 41-39 lead, their first lead since the 6:49 mark of the first half.
From that point on, the Titans outscored the Anteaters 23-18 and outrebounded them 18-8 including a 9-2 edge on the offensive glass.
The Anteaters kept it close as, with 3:33 left and trailing by three, they forced a miss from Leslie and Tommy Rutherford came down with the board. But Leslie got in Rutherford's jersey and pestered the UCI big man before knocking the ball loose and causing a mad scramble. The ball eventually found its way to Rowe's hands and the Titans freshman hit a scoop shot off glass and drew the foul to make it a two-possession game again.
The Anteaters answered a minute later though as Luke Nelson put his head down off an inbounds pass, ran himself to the right wing, and hit a 3-pointer to cut the Titans lead to 52-50 with 2:41 left.
Leslie was there for the Titans again though as he made his way into the lane and hit a jumper over his defender to put Fullerton up four.
The lead stayed at four with 13 seconds left before the Anteaters found Nelson again in the corner for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one with four seconds left. They then fouled Tre' Coggins with two seconds left and the Titans guard hit one of two, giving the Anteaters one last chance.
UC Irvine inbounded from their own end and got the ball across half court before using their last time out with 0.9 seconds left. On the ensuing inbound, Dimakopoulos was able to get the ball in to Nelson at the wing but Leslie disrupted the catch long enough to allow the clock to expire before Nelson could get an attempt off, securing the win for Fullerton.
The Titans will hit the road to take on Hawai'i at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday night. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. PST/7 p.m. HST.
NOTES: Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine met for the 105th time on Wednesday. The Titans now hold a 53-52 edge in the all-time series… The Titans recorded eight steals on Wednesday night, the sixth time they have recorded at least seven steals in a game. They have recorded 53 steals in the last six games, averaging 8.83 per contest… Fullerton has won four straight games for the first time since they won six straight in the 2015-16 season from Nov. 17-Dec. 4… The Titans overcame a halftime deficit to win for the third time this season… Fullerton is now 4-0 this season in games decided by four points or less… The win also snapped UC Irvine's three-game winning streak… Fullerton is currently the No. 3 seed in the Big West Conference, one game back of the Anteaters for the top spot and half a game back of UC Davis for the No. 2 seed.
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