Henderson’s Streak Ends but He Rebounds in Time for CSUF Win

Kevin Henderson’s school-record consecutive free-throw string came to an end at 37 Saturday night, but the Cal State Fullerton guard made a pair with the game on the line as the Titans hung on for a 57-54 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. win over San Jose State.

With 4:18 remaining in the first half, Henderson, playing in his fourth game after missing seven weeks with a broken foot, missed the front end of a one-plus-one situation. It was his first free-throw miss since Dec. 4.

But, with 11 seconds left and Fullerton leading by one, the senior hit nothing but net on both ends of another one-plus-one. The Spartans’ Herb Simon then missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer and, for the first time in Coach George McQuarn’s six seasons at Fullerton, the Titans swept a season series from San Jose State.

Fullerton’s win, coupled with the University of Pacific’s upset of New Mexico State Saturday night, tightened the battle for the last three spots in the PCAA Tournament. Fullerton (13-13 overall), Pacific and UC Santa Barbara are all 6-8 in conference. Utah State is 5-8. Only Cal State Long Beach (2-12) is sure to be left out. San Jose State is 7-8 in the PCAA and 41-12 overall.

This was not a pretty display of finesse basketball by any stretch of the imagination. Fullerton shot just 35% from the floor and 53% at the free throw line, but the Titans got 57 field-goal attempts and the Spartans got just 35.

“It was very physical game,” Spartan Coach Bill Berry said. “We had a lot of players in foul trouble (starting forwards Reggie Owens and Lance Wyatt both fouled out) and we allowed them way too many second shots.”

Everybody who had access to a San Jose State statistical chart figured the coach’s son, Ricky Berry, would be taking the last shot. But it was Simon, who scored a career-high 18 points, taking an off-balance 22-footer at the buzzer.

“We called two timeouts, trying to figure out where Berry would be shooting from,” McQuarn said. “He’s shooting better from three-point range than we are at the free-throw line. Then Simon takes it. That goes to show you how important those timeouts are.”

Acutally, Berry’s a 59% three-point shooter and the Titans have managed to make 64% of their free throws this season. And it was Fullerton’s poor free-throw shooting that almost cost the Titans the game.

Fullerton was able to pound the ball inside to center Herman Webster all night and the muscular 6-foot 6 1/2-inch junior finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Webster made 5 of 6 first-half free throws, but made just 1 of 8 after the intermission.

“With Kevin and Richard (Morton) back in the lineup, teams are trying to deny them the ball and it opens things up inside,” Webster said. “I missed a couple of those free throws and then I just started thinking about it too much. It’s pretty frustrating.”

Henderson, however, said the streak hadn’t crossed his mind and that he wasn’t relieved it was over when he went to the line with the game on the line.

“With the momentum we had, I think any one of our players would have made them,” Henderson said, winking.

After the first few minutes, it looked as if the Titans might roll to a rare easy win. They jumped out to a 14-4 lead and with the first half nearly half over, the Spartans had managed just eight points.

“It wasn’t anything they were doing especially well defensively,” Berry said. “We were just out of sync. But we kept our poise and got back in it.”

George Puou scored on a layin and a dunk and Wyatt hit a short turnaround jumper and the Spartans tied the score, 20-20, with 5:18 left in the half.

The score was tied again (40-40) when Fullerton took the lead for good on a Henderson three-pointer, two Kerry Boagni free throws and one Webster free throw in a span of 36 seconds.

San Jose closed to within one three times.

“This was a big win for us,” McQuarn said. “Both teams had lost two straight and were approaching this game as a must-win situation. Conceptually, we did the right thing by punching the ball into Webster. But we’re such an awful free-throw shooting team, it loses some of its impact.”

Henderson, of course, is not too bad at the line, where he’s shooting 86%.

“I was sorry to see his streak end,” McQuarn said, “but it sure was sweet when he knocked those two down at the end.”