St. Mary’s Defense Stops Titans, 68-61

St. Mary’s brought its aggressive matchup zone defense to Cal State Fullerton Friday night and came away with a 68-61 victory over the Titans.

The Gael defense already has made its reputation this season, holding Brigham Young’s Michael Smith to 12 points and Stanford’s Todd Lichti to 11.

Against Fullerton, St. Mary’s kept close tabs on Cedric Ceballos, who had been averaging 22 points a game but was coming off a 2-point performance in a loss to New Orleans Tuesday. He finished with 16 against St. Mary’s, which picked up its 10th victory of the season before a turnout of 1,930 at Titan Gym.

The Gaels’ only loss was a 1-point defeat at home by Stanford Tuesday night.

Against Fullerton (5-4), St. Mary’s built a 10-point lead in the first half. But Ceballos hit a 3-pointer that cut a 9-point lead to 6, then used a one-handed slam off a fastbreak, alley-oop pass from Wayne Williams to cut it to 4.

St. Mary’s stretched its 31-27 halftime lead to 11 in the first 7 minutes of the second half after consecutive 3-pointers by Terry Burns.

The Gaels led by as many as 14 points and held off the Titans when they threatened to narrow the gap to 5 with 11 minutes left. Mark Hill, who led Fullerton with 19 points, hit a 15-foot jumper as he was fouled by Al Lewis. That made it 48-41, but Hill missed the free throw. Ceballos nearly tipped in the rebound but also missed.

“Fullerton is extremely talented, with some good shooters,” St. Mary’s Coach Lynn Nance said. “Defensively, we were just able to hold down their bigger scorers.”

Center Dan Curry led the Gaels with 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Robert Haugen added 14 and Al Lewis 13.

Fullerton Coach John Sneed called St. Mary’s the best team the Titans have played this season.

The Titans were without starting center John Sykes, whom Sneed said he suspended indefinitely after practice Wednesday for unspecified reasons.