March 3, 2007
Davis, Calif. - Thomas Juillerat scored a career-high 28 points and Vince Oliver had 27 Saturday night as UC Davis snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 77-68 non-conference victory over foul-plagued Cal State Fullerton in the Aggies' final game of the season.
Juillerat had 10 rebounds and the Aggies hit 24 of 26 free throws to improve to 5-23 in their final transition season to NCAA Div. I status. It was Davis' first win over Fullerton in seven tries.
Justin Burns and Bobby Brown each had 15 points and Frank Robinson matched a career-high with 12 rebounds but the Titans fell to 19-9. They finished tied for second in the Big West and will be the No. 3 seed behind Long Beach State and Cal Poly in next week's post-season tournament in Anaheim.
Fullerton led by 5 points at 46-41 with 12:51 to play after a 3-point play by Burns. But the Aggies got back-to-back 3-point baskets from Oliver and Ari Warmerdam to take a 55-52 lead and they never trailed again. Fullerton made only 17 of 32 free throws.
"Obviously we had a huge problem with fouls tonight," said Head Coach Bob Burton, who saw stars Scott Cutley, Brown and Robinson all burdened with four fouls with more than 12 minutes to play. Cutley got 3 in the first five minutes of the game and his fourth in the first minute of the second half.
"Those guys just never could play with all the fouls.
"And I don't see how you can win games when you are shooting as poorly at the foul line as we did," said Burton. "This is very discouraging going into the Big West Tournament. Hopefully, we can turn it around next week. It will be a short stay if we continue to play as we did tonight."
Cutley, who had 35 points and 12 rebounds in Fullerton's earlier win over the Aggies in Titan Gym, finished with 6 points and 7 rebounds in a total of 14 minutes. Brown didn't make a field goal in the second half until the closing minutes.
Juillerat and Oliver scored 20 of the Aggies' 24 field goals with Juillerat scoring his team's first 13 points.