March 4, 2010

Fullerton, Calif. -

Complete Release in PDF Format

UPCOMING:
Thur., March 4 - Pacific, Titan Gym (4,000), 8:05 p.m., ESPNU (Producer: Jerry Weinstein; Announcers: Todd Harris and Krista Blunk)
Sat., March 6 - UC Davis, Titan Gym (4,000), 6:05 p.m.
Wed., March 10 - at Big West Conference Tournament, Anaheim Convention Center (7,673), tba

IN A NUTSHELL: The Titans (15-12, 8-6) have won 7 of their last 9 games (3 in OT and 1 at the buzzer) and now can finish anywhere from a two-way tie for second to a three-way tie for fourth thru sixth places in the Big West Conference standings. There could even be a four-way tie for third thru sixth. Fullerton needs one more victory to clinch a winning season and one more victory to move Coach Bob Burton alone into second place in CSF coaching wins. Fullerton is 6-0 on live TV this season, but after its last two heart-stopping road victories (OT at Long Beach and 3OT at CSUN), the Titans have come home to lose to UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara. Looming on Saturday night vs. UC Davis is the final home game for Titan seniors Gerard Anderson, Aaron Thompson, Papa Guisse, Ray Miller and Frank Granados.

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 links.

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. 11.6 4.8a BWC Player of Week after 21 pts., 5 rebs., 6 asts. & buzzer-beater at Cal Poly
G 0 Aaron Thompson* 6-4 Sr. 11.8 6.1r Only 2-for-9 (0-for-5 treys) from the floor last two games
C 13 Bryce Webster 6-10 Jr. 7.8 5.3r Had a double-double in each of last two overtime wins
F 5 Gerard Anderson* 6-6 Jr. 11.1 6.2r 36-for-45 (.800) at the free-throw line over last four games
F 12 Jer'Vaughn Johnson 6-6 Jr. 10.5 6.1r Scored career-high 22 points at UC Santa Barbara

OFF THE BENCH:
G 3 Devon Peltier 5-11 Jr. 9.9 0.8a Has led team in scoring four times; 65-for-158 (.411) 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. 7.5 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

SERIES HISTORY: Pacific leads the all-time series, 45-33, and has won the last three including an 80-73 decision in Stockton on Jan. 21. The Tigers are 13-23 in Titan Gym, winning 8 of the last 10 meetings.

ABOUT THE TIGERS: The Tigers (18-10, 10-4) have split their last six games, sweeping Long Beach State and winning at Cal State Bakersfield (by 27 compared to the Titans' OT win there) while losing to UC Davis, New Mexico State (whom CSF beat in November) and UC Riverside, the latter two at home. They finish the regular season Saturday at Cal State Northridge. Center Sam Willard is the only double digit scorer at 10.7 ppg to go with a team-high 7.8 rpg. UoP holds its opponents to .410 shooting from the floor.

THE COACH: Fullerton's Bob Burton brings a 122-89 (.578) mark into the Pacific game. He is in his seventh year and has tied George McQuarn (122-117 in 8 years -- 1980-81 to 1987-88) for second place in total CSF victories. Burton began the 2008-09 season with the best CSF career winning percentage at .605 (92-60), but since then the Titans are 30-29 to drop his percentage below Bobby Dye's .583 (109-78). The late Alex Omalev had the most (139-176) victories. The Titans need one more win to clinch their fifth winning season under Burton, who is 4-10 vs. Pacific, 2-4 in Titan Gym.

THE BUILDING: Under Coach Bob Burton, the Titans are 62-27 (.693) in Historic Titan Gym and 8-3 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 10 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 five road games (at Bakersfield, Long Beach, Irvine, Northridge and San Luis Obispo), the Titans have improved to 7-9 (7-6 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 60-62 (.492).

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 Feb. 13 they went 11:10 (final 9:20 of first half and first 1:50 of second half) without a field goal. Against UCSB on Feb. 17 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 15 games and all but three of the total of 27. Anderson, Webster, Johnson and Streeter each have started all 27 and Thompson has started 24. Peltier (2) and Chin (1) got the other three starting calls.

MULTI-LEADERS: In 27 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, 7; Chin, 5; Peltier and Streeter, 4; Johnson, 3; 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 a recent slump and making "only" 46 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 .500 (44-for-88). He was on pace to break the Big West Conference seasonal record (.519 by Mike Doktorczyk of UC Irvine in 1988-89) but is 6-for-20 (.300) over the last four games after making 8-of-9 (.889) over the previous three games. The school record for a season is .443 (89 of 201) by Don Leary in 1992-93. ((The NCAA requires 2.5 made 3-pt. field goals per game for its national rankings by percentage).

OTHER BIG WEST LEADERS: Through overall games of Feb. 28, the Titans led the Big West Conference in field goal percentage (.449), 3-point field goals made per game (7.00) and blocks (3.22) and were second in free-throw percentage (.717) and 3-point field goals made per game (6.78). They were last in turnover margin (-1.89). Jacques Streeter was No. 1 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.03 and second in assists at 4.81.

PELTIER FROM OUTSIDE: Devon Peltier has taken 220 shots this season and 158 (72 percent) have come from behind the 3-point line. He has made at least three threes in a game 13 times and four times at least five.

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 on Feb. 13, 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 on Feb. 13 at CSUN 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.

NOTABLE BUZZER BEATERS ON VIDEO (You be the Judge): While Cal State Fullerton has a surprisingly lengthy list of buzzer-beating game-winning shots in its sub-.500 history, Jacques Streeter's game-winner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mYIagYvRPI) on Feb. 24 at Cal Poly stands out as perhaps the most difficult shot of the bunch. He dribbled at full speed around one defender near midcourt, took off from outside the 3-point line and with 6-foot-5 Jordan Lewis in his face, launched a bank shot from about 18 feet while falling to the floor. The runnerup is probably Ralphy Holmes fall-away jumper (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJeF2Z...feature=related) to win at Oregon State in the post-season NIT on March 16, 2005. More unlikely was Derek Jones' game-TYING shot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpvAjKl2SiE) on Feb. 9, 1989, vs. UNLV when he took a pass from under the basket and retreated to the corner to fire up a three before he fell into the team bench. It was the only 3-pointer of his two-season career and the Titans won in overtime, 93-92, when Wayne Williams' hit a 25-foot 3-pointer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgWzjQuPfY0) at the buzzer.

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 the Feb. 13 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 0-for-6 in game-winning, buzzer-beater field goal attempts 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 on Feb. 13 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 and Shawn Lewis hit a trey with 5.2 seconds left to tie the Feb.24 game at Cal Poly, which was won at the buzzer by Jacques Streeter. (Stephen F. Austin guard Denzel Barnes made two free throws with 0.5 seconds remaining to beat Fullerton on Dec. 5).

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION, SUCCESS: Fullerton is 6-0 on live TV this season -- winning at UCLA on ESPN, at UC Riverside and at Cal Poly 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 20 games he was averaging 14.4 points. He began the season in China after being a late cut by the Atlanta Hawks... forward Scott Cutley is averaging 16 points thru 36 games for Central Entrerriano Gualeguaychu in Argentina... Marcio Lassiter is playing for Smart Gilas, the newly formed Philippine national team.