Titans Rout Southern Utah, 100-58

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

Was it after the final buzzer, when the Thunderbirds looked up at the scoreboard and found they were on the wrong end of 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 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 on its home floor for their sixth straight victory. That meant the Thunderbirds, a modest NCAA Division II team from Cedar City, would not be pushed around by the bullies of Division I basketball.

Southern Utah Coach Bob Schermerhorn believed his team was ready for Fullerton, which, three days earlier, had done everything but stolen lunch money in beating 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 at the 17:58 mark of the first half. “Yeah, I was ready to go home right then,” Schermerhorn said.

But the Thunderbirds returned to the court to find Fullerton players who had just received an unfavorable review from 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, during the first five minutes of the second half to take a 62-32 lead. The rest 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 a pair of thunderous dunks in the second half. Center Herman Webster led the Titans with 21 points, hitting 10 of 13 shot attempts. Morton added 20, including 4 of 9 from three-point range. The Titans made eight three-point shots in all, a school record.

All of this should have left McQuarn quite pleased, right? Well, not exactly.

“I thought, out of a 40-minute ballgame, we played well for 13 minutes,” he said. “We’re not gonna beat good basketball teams playing well for 13 minutes.”

Said Turner: “In the first half, we were very tentative. We came in at halftime and had a little talk.”

Then came the second half, which Schermerhorn found unpleasant to watch. “I thought we were quick,” he said. “But we didn’t look it tonight against those guys.”

Fullerton kept one streak intact in the victory. Junior Derek Jones was late for practice Sunday and left out of the starting lineup. It was the third straight game a Titan was disciplined by McQuarn for being late or absent. Jones entered the game at the 16:35 mark of the first half, and finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds.