Fullerton Brings Southern Utah St. Down to Earth, 100-58

It’s hard to pinpoint precisely when Southern Utah State completed its rude trip back to reality Monday night against Cal State Fullerton.

Was it at the final buzzer, when the Thunderbirds looked at the scoreboard and found they were on the wrong end of a 100-58 blowout?

Was it at the 9:09 mark of the second half, when Titan guard Alexander Hamilton drove the lane to give Fullerton a 40-point lead? Or was it nearly six minutes later, when Fullerton’s Richard Morton turned a neat, little 360-degree spin and dropped in a layup to make it 95-45?

Whatever the case, reality hit Southern Utah like a left hook to the chin. The Thunderbirds came into this game feeling pretty good about themselves, what with just having upset Weber State at Southern Utah for their sixth straight win. The victory meant that the Thunderbirds, an NCAA Division II team from Cedar City, Utah, would not be pushed around by some bullies of Division I basketball.

Southern Utah Coach Bob Schermerhorn believed his team was ready for Fullerton, which, three days earlier, beat Cal State Bakersfield, 83-46.

“When you’re 6-0, you’re not really intimidated,” Schermerhorn said. “I thought our kids really thought we could play with them.”

For a couple minutes, they did. The Thunderbirds had a 6-2 lead until Fullerton Coach George McQuarn called a timeout.

“Yeah, I was ready to go home right then,” Schermerhorn said.

But the Thunderbirds returned to the court to find a group of Fullerton players who had just received an unfavorable review by McQuarn. Perhaps McQuarn should commit his timeout speech to memory.

In the next few minutes, the Titans (2-1) went on a 13-1 run that began to signal the end of Southern Utah’s new-found confidence. By halftime, the Titans had a 46-27 lead. They outscored the Thunderbirds, 16-5, over the first five minutes of the second half to take a 62-32 lead. The remainder of the game made a strong argument for a mercy rule in college basketball.

Junior forward Henry Turner led Fullerton’s second-half surge, scoring 9 of the Titans’ first 13 points. He finished with 16, four of which came on two thunderous dunks in the second half.

Center Herman Webster led the Titans with 21 points, hitting 10 of 13 field goal attempts. Morton added 20 points, including 4 of 9 from three-point range.