Feb. 19, 2010
Fullerton, Calif. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
UPCOMING:
Sat., Feb. 20 - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Titan Gym (4,000), ESPNU Bracket Buster, 4:05 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 24 - at Cal Poly SLO, Mott Gym (3,032), 7:30 p.m., FSN West TV
Thur., March 4 - Pacific, Titan Gym (4,000), 8:05 p.m., ESPNU
IN A NUTSHELL: The Titans (13-12, 7-6) complete their non-conference schedule with the ESPNU BracketBuster series and an inaugural game against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, which is in the second year of a four-year reclassification process to Div. I status. Fullerton will be trying to end a 2-game home losing streak by extending their home winning streak over non-conference foes to 10.
STRETCH RUN: The Titans have three Big West Conference games remaining. They host two teams (Pacific and UC Davis) ahead of them in the standings (and holders of wins over the Titans) and visit Cal Poly. Fullerton currently has a one-half game lead over UC Davis for third place.
AUDIO: Most Titan games can be heard live on the internet. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.fullertontitans.com and follow the link to hear Erik Pessolano and Mike Martinez.
VIDEO: All Titan home games and road Big West Conference games are available via videostreaming, normally on a subscription basis. Details are available on the Big West website at www.bigwest.org.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg r/apg Quick Notes
G 11 Jacques Streeter* 6-0 So. 10.9 4.8a Played 49 minutes before fouling out with 21 pts, 5 asts., 6 rebs. at CSUN
G 0 Aaron Thompson* 6-4 Sr. 12.5 5.7r On pace (.530) to break Big West record (.519) for 3-point FG percentage
C 13 Bryce Webster 6-10 Jr. 8.1 5.2r Had a double-double in each of last two overtime wins
F 5 Gerard Anderson* 6-6 Jr. 10.6 5.8r Big West player of the week leads team in BWC play at 13.8 ppg
F 12 Jer'Vaughn Johnson 6-6 Jr. 10.4 6.2r Scored career-high 22 points at UC Santa Barbara
OFF THE BENCH:
G 3 Devon Peltier 5-11 Jr. 10.0 0.8a Has led team in scoring four times; 61-for-149 (.409) at 3-point line
G 14 Jamel McGuire 6-5 Jr. 1.2 1.0a Missed two games with dislocated finger suffered in practice on Jan. 29
F 15 Orane Chin 6-7 So. 7.7 3.8r Averaged 18.5 points and 9 rebounds in two games vs. UC Irvine
G 21 Robbie Robinson 6-5 Jr. 2.2 1.2r Key member of Riverside City College's state championship team in `08-09
G 22 Frank Granados 5-8 Sr. 0.8 0.0a Walk-on practiced against women's team last three years
G 24 Eric Williams 6-3 Jr. 2.0 0.7a Walk-on was hero at CSUN with 5 points in final 12 seconds
F 33 Ray Miller* 6-8 Sr. 2.1 1.3r Led team last season with .631 field-goal percentage
F 42 Papa Guisse* 6-8 Sr. 1.0 1.4r Started 21 of team's 32 games last year
*letters earned
ABOUT THE COUGARS: SIU Edwardsville (4-21), located about 25 miles east of St. Louis, won at North Dakota, 91-76, Thursday night behind 34 points by Mark Yelovich. The Cougars have never played a team from California. The program was launched in 1967-68 at the Div. II level. The Cougars became members of the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2008, but won't begin competition until the 2011-12 academic year. Yelovich, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, is the leading scorer at 16 points per game and top rebounder at 5.9 rpg. Guard Aamir McCleary also is in double figures at 11.8 ppg. The coach is Lennox Forrester (Evansville `92), who is in his third year at SIUE with a record of 30-52.
THE COACH: Fullerton's Bob Burton brings a 120-89 (.574) mark into the game. He is in his seventh year. The Titans' 13-12 (.520) record has dropped his winning percentage below Bobby Dye's .583 (109-78), the school record from the 1970s. Burton is third in total victories. The late Alex Omalev had the most (139-176) followed by George McQuarn (122-117) and then Burton.
THE BUILDING: Under Coach Bob Burton, the Titans are 61-27 (.693) in Historic Titan Gym and 7-3 this year after a 6-0 start. They are 3-3 at home in Big West play, already surpassing last year's conference home win total (2-6). The Titans have won their last nine home non-conference games since a loss to Wright State on Dec. 22, 2007. Burton's best single-season home record is 12-2 in 2006-07. The school record is 13-0 in 1982-83.
ROAD IMPROVEMENT: With wins in the last four road games (at Bakersfield, Long Beach, Irvine and Northridge), the Titans have doubled their win total of their first 11 away games (2-9), improving to 6-9 (6-6 away plus 0-3 neutral). They were better than .500 (50-42, .543 including 11-10 on neutral floors) over the previous 5 seasons away from Titan Gym. For perspective, in the previous 10 seasons (1994-95 thru 2003-04), Fullerton's combined road record was 30-115 (.207). With a 3-11 mark in his first season (2003-04), Coach Bob Burton's total CSF road record is currently 59-62 (.488).
THREE'S A CHARM, FOUR CAUSES HARM: Three times this season the Titans have strung three consecutive wins only to stumble badly in their attempts at four victories in a row. The first ended miserably in a 69-49 tournament loss to Central Arkansas, the second was the first home loss (to Cal State Northridge on Jan. 16) and the third was another home loss on Feb. 6 to last-place UC Riverside.
STREAKY TEAM: The Titans have had extended stretches of brilliance and ineptitude this season. The most dramatic was the New Mexico State game, when they fell behind, 25-3; went on an extended 57-17 run to go up by 18 points only to give up an 18-6 surge to make it close. Other bad starts have been 7-30 at Utah State, 2-13 at Stephen F. Austin, 4-13 vs. Cal Poly and 10-24 vs. Cal State Northridge. Good starts have been 27-8 vs. Occidental and 17-6 vs. Cal State Bakersfield. In-game runs have included 13-0 at Pacific, 12-0 at Utah State, 11-0 and 10-0 both in the second half at UCSB, 20-3 vs. Weber State, 10-0 late at UC Davis, 10-0 early vs. Long Beach State, 13-0, 11-0 and 14-0 all in the first half vs. Occidental, 11-0 at UC Riverside and 11-0 and 12-0 in the New Mexico State rally. Conversely, 0-20 vs. NMSU, 0-12 vs. Cal State Northridge, 0-11 vs. Bakersfield and Utah State and 0-10 vs. Morehead State and Central Arkansas. On Feb. 4 at Long Beach the Titans went on a 14-1 run to close the first half but were outscored 12-2 to start the second half. At Northridge on Saturday they went 11:10 (final 9:20 of first half and first 1:50 of second half) without a field goal. Against UCSB on Wednesday night they had an 11-1 run in the second half to take their biggest lead at 54-49.
SOLID STARTING FIVE: The Titans have used the same starting lineup in their last 13 games and all but three of the total of 25. Anderson, Webster, Johnson and Streeter each have started all 25 and Thompson has started 22. Peltier (2) and Chin (1) got the other three starting calls.
MULTI-LEADERS: In 25 games, the Titans have had seven different scoring leaders or co-leaders with Aaron Thompson taking honors eight times to lead the list (Thompson, 8; Anderson, 6; Chin, 5; Peltier, 4; Johnson, 3; Streeter, 2; and Webster, 1). Seven times the leader or co-leader has come off the bench. All six of Anderson's leadership roles have come in Big West play.
THOMPSON 3-POINT LEADER: Despite making "only" 48 percent of his attempts in Big West Conference play, Aaron Thompson continues to lead the Big West overall in 3-point field goal percentage at .530 (44-for-83) and is on-pace to break the Big West Conference seasonal record (.519 by Mike Doktorczyk of UC Irvine in 1988-89). (The NCAA requires 2.5 made 3-pt. field goals per game for its national rankings by percentage.) Thompson made 8 in a row over an earlier 3-game span and is 14-for-24 over the last 5 games.
OTHER BIG WEST LEADERS: Through overall games of Feb. 17, the Titans led the Big West Conference in field goal percentage (.448), 3-point field goals made per game (7.00) and blocks (3.12) and were second in free-throw percentage (.715) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (.358). Jacques Streeter was No. 1 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.13 and second in assists at 4.76.
PELTIER FROM OUTSIDE: Devon Peltier has taken 207 shots this season and 149 (72 percent) have come from behind the 3-point line. He has made at least three threes in a game 12 times and four times at least five. He was scoreless with only 3 shots vs. UCSB on Wednesday after scoring 21 in Goleta.
FREE THROWS: Fullerton set school records for most free throws made (44) and attempted (61) in the 113-112 triple overtime game at CSU Northridge last Saturday night, coming up one shy in each category of the Big West records (45 of 62 by Pacific vs. San Jose State, 2/23/80). Fullerton's 36 fouls tied its school record.
MORE RECORDS: The 225 combined points Saturday broke the Fullerton school record of 216 (Fullerton 128, Chapman 88 on Jan. 8, 1972). The 113 tied for third most by Fullerton (128 vs. Chapman; 117 vs. U.S.I.U. on Dec. 11, 1985; and 113 vs. Pasadena Nazarene in 1965-66) and the 112 were the third most allowed by Fullerton (120 at UCLA, Dec. 13, 1997, and 115 vs. UNLV, Mar. 8, 1990). No team in the Big West Conference had scored 100 points in a game this season until Fullerton (113) and Northridge (112) both did it on Saturday, thanks to three overtimes.
OVERTIME SUCCESS: Fullerton has won four of five overtime games this year and eight of its last 10. Twice Fullerton teams have won five overtime games in the same season: 5-1 in 1988-89 and 5-1 in 2002-03, when the overall record was only 10-19. The school's all-time Div. I overtime record is 44-41.
TRIPLE OVERTIME: After Saturday's game at Northridge, the Titans are 3-0 in triple overtime games in their 50-year history. They also are 0-2 in quadruple overtime and 3-5 in double overtime.
DODGING BULLETS: Fullerton opponents are 1-for-7 in game-deciding, buzzer-beater field goals this season. UCLA missed the last shot in both regulation and the first overtime on Nov. 16 (we won't count a desperation half-court three to tie in double overtime); Casper Ware missed the last shot of regulation on Feb. 4 at Long Beach; and Northridge missed three game-winning attempts (Kenny Daniels at the end of regulation, Mark Hill at the end of double overtime and Vinnie McGhee's half-court shot off the rim at the end of triple overtime). Hill also lost the ball going up for a last shot in the first overtime. Orlando Johnson did hit an off-balance trey with 3.4 seconds left to force overtime at UCSB on Jan. 23. (Stephen F. Austin guard Denzel Barnes made two free throws with 0.5 seconds remaining to beat Fullerton on Dec. 5).
TV APPEARANCE: FSN West on Jan. 22 selected the Cal State Fullerton at Cal Poly men's basketball game for the Big West's Wednesday, February 24 FSN West Wild Card broadcast. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. (PST). Fullerton is 5-0 on TV this season -- winning at UCLA on ESPN, at UC Riverside on FSN Net, at Bakersfield on local cable, at Long Beach on ESPNU and at Irvine on Cox Cable.
SHORT-TERM EXPERIENCE: Despite five returning lettermen, the Titans have no players remaining on the roster who suited up during the 2007-08 Big West Conference championship and NCAA Tournament season. Jacques Streeter (32), Gerard Anderson (29), Papa Guisse (21), Aaron Thompson (16) and Ray Miller (12) did combine for 110 starts last season.
DIV. I TRANSFERS: The Titans have two new Div. I transfers eligible this season in Orane Chin (South Florida) and Jer'Vaughn Johnson (San Diego State) plus two players who began at 4-year schools but came to Fullerton via the community college route (Bryce Webster from Minnesota via Irvine Valley and Eric Williams from Metro State in Colorado via Orange Coast). The Titans have two more Div. I transfers redshirting in Sean Williams from Syracuse and Andre Hardy from Oral Roberts. That pair brings the total of Div. I transfers to CSF to 13 in the Bob Burton Era and 36 in the program's now 35-year Div. I history.
FALL SIGNEES: Cal State Fullerton received two national letters of intent in the November signing period: &\#149; De'Andre Haskins is attending Citrus College in Azusa after playing his freshman year at Valparaiso University in Indiana. The 6-foot-4 wing player out of Long Beach Jordan HS averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds for the Crusaders and, as a lefthander, will draw comparisons to recent Titan Frank Robinson.
&\#149; Isiah Umipig is a senior at Federal Way High School and lives in Seattle, Washington. The 6-1 point guard led his team to the Class 4A state championship in 2008-09 and was his team's leading scorer in the championship game win over Garfield, 62-54, in the Tacoma Dome with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He played only 13 games his junior season due to an ankle injury. The title was the first in school history.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Former Titan guard Bobby Brown is in his second season in the NBA (only former Big West player currently in the league) and is on his fourth team (Clippers) and at each stop, there has been a head coaching change. Mike Dunleavy's withdrawal was the latest... guard Josh Akognon is playing in Europe for BC Kalev / Cramo in Tallinn, Estonia (west of Russia, south of Finland and north of Latvia)... guard Frank Robinson recently joined the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League. Through 12 games he was averaging 13.9 points. He began the season in China after being a late cut by the Atlanta Hawks... forward Scott Cutley is averaging 15 points thru 22 games for Entrerriano in Argentina... Marcio Lassiter is playing for Smart Gilas, the newly formed Philippine national team.