FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's basketball lost 86-85 to CSUN on Saturday night. Sophomore guard Tory San Antonio scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Titans in scoring but the team's valiant comeback effort was just short. The Matadors rattled off a 16-0 run in the middle of the second half to take a lead they would not give up. Game two of the series is set for 7 p.m. PT on Sunday on BigWest.TV.

The Titans trailed by 12 with 59 seconds left and after a series of threes plus missed CSUN free throws, trailed by five with five seconds left. San Antonio buried a pull-up three at the top of the key and was fouled with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. With the Titans down two, the only chance at overtime was to miss the free throw on purpose and get a tip-in. Unfortunately, he sank the free throw and time expired upon CSUN inbounding the ball to end the game at 86-85.

Fullerton trailed 32-31 at the half, then rallied to take a 47-43 lead at the 14:05 mark. CSUN proceeded on a 16-0 run to take a 59-47 lead. The Titans made three treys in a row to get the deficit down to three in a hurry but CSUN would not relinquish that lead the rest of the way. 

CSUN guard Darius Brown II and Brendan Harrick both scored 25 points. Brown shot 6-12 from the field and 11-13 at the line while also recording six rebounds and 13 assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes of action. Harrick shot 8-15 from the floor and 7-10 from beyond the arc. 

For Fullerton, San Antonio shot 6-8 from the floor, 3-4 from distance and 6-9 at the line. He also had four rebounds and three steals. He had a team-high +12 in the plus-minus category in 30 minutes of play. Senior forward Josh Hall had his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists and a steal. Sophomore forward Vincent Lee just missed his second straight double-double as he recorded 10 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Jalen Harris pitched in a career-high 15 points and three assists off the bench.

As a team, Fullerton shot 43.9% (29-66) from the floor, 40.7% (11-27) beyond the arc and 69.6% (16-23) at the free-throw line. CSUN went 27-60 (45.0%) overall, 10-25 (40.0%) from three and 22-30 (73.3%). 

.@CSFCoachTaylor on tonight's game. #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/OYlpTjNUkF

— Titans Men's Basketball (@FullertonMBB) January 17, 2021