An Unusual Time for Titans as Home Streak Reaches 12

FULLERTON —  It was pretty much unanimous in preseason. People figured Cal State Fullerton would land in the upper half of the Big West Conference about the same time that elephants talked.

Well, a few minutes after Fullerton’s impressive 71-58 victory over Pacific Saturday night, mascot Tuffy the Titan approached someone outside the Fullerton locker room.

“Aaron Sunderland’s English teacher is out here and wants to talk to him,” came a voice from deep within the elephant’s trunk.

Tuffy the Titan?

Why not? Fullerton, now tied with Cal State Long Beach for third in the conference, has snagged momentum by the tail and is twirling through the air for what is becoming quite the ride.

In winning for the sixth time in their past seven games, the Titans (11-5, 6-3) extended their home-court winning streak to 12 games--fourth longest in the nation, according to the NCAA--and forward Bruce Bowen, who scored a game-high 22 points, became the 14th Fullerton player to collect more than 1,000 in his career.

But Bowen’s milestone was nearly lost in the crowd as Sunderland and off-guard Don Leary delivered a one-two punch six minutes into the second half that allowed Fullerton to put a choke-hold on Pacific (9-8, 5-4) the rest of the way.

Tony Amundsen, who had scored 60 points in Pacific’s previous three games, had picked up his third foul with 2:25 left in an even first half, and that was the opening the Titans needed.

The halftime adjustments became obvious.

“We initially tried to take advantage of Amundsen’s three fouls,” Fullerton Coach Brad Holland said. “He was guarding Aaron, and we ran a couple of plays. Aaron started making things happen, penetrating, making a few shots.”

Indeed, the Titans dismantled Pacific swiftly and brutally, piece by piece, starting when Sunderland made a three-pointer to lift Fullerton into a tie, 34-34, with 14:44 remaining.

Sunderland scored two more baskets on Fullerton’s next two possessions and then turned it over to Leary, who rained two consecutive three-pointers onto Pacific’s fleet to complete a 12-0 run and send Fullerton’s spirits soaring. They were the first two baskets of the game for Leary, who had been stopped to that point by the Tiger defense.

“Once I hit those threes, I knew we kind of put them away right there,” Leary said.

As for Sunderland, he finished with 21 points, four assists and only one turnover.

“(Assistant) Coach (Ed) Goorjian told me, ‘It’s on you. You’ve got to penetrate,’ ” Sunderland said. “Amundsen had three fouls. Every time I got the ball, I just went to the hole as they told me.”

Bowen crossed the 1,000-point mark with a shot from the lane and a subsequent free throw with 7:11 to play to make it 49-38, Fullerton.

“I wish they would have stopped the game,” Sunderland said. “That’s once-in-a-lifetime for that.”

Bowen, though, was unconcerned with theatrics.

“There was not much celebrating on my behalf,” said Bowen, whose 1,006 career points leaves him well behind Leon Wood’s school-record of 1,876. “I knew we had to get the job done.

“It was too close to celebrate.”

The Titans finished with a season-low 10 turnovers--only two in the second half--against the team leading the Big West in turnover margin. Fullerton shot 52% from the floor in front of a season-high 3,238 in Titan Gym and allowed 58 points, its second-lowest total of the season.

And this against a Pacific team that had won eight of 11 coming into the game for the first time since 1980 and was tied with Fullerton for fourth place in the conference.

Amundsen scored 20 for Pacific and forward Robert Richardson had 16, but they were unable to keep the Tigers close in the final minutes.

“If they play like (they did) here, they’ve already proven--and will continue to prove--that they will beat everybody in the conference,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said.

And what may have seemed out of the question in November suddenly is as real as Bowen’s jump shot at the end of January.

And check out their schedule: Fullerton plays six of its remaining 10 games--six of nine Big West games--in Titan Gym, their self-proclaimed “House of Pain.” The only Division I schools with longer home-court winning streaks are Nevada Las Vegas (57), Indiana (26) and Kentucky (14).

Chapter by chapter, these Titans are even hooking their English teachers.

“She’s the biggest fan I’ve ever had at Cal State Fullerton,” Sunderland said of his waiting teacher. “I really respect her as a teacher and a lady.”