Latest Loss Just One Big Turnover for Fullerton

Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State have been similar basketball teams this season, but the play of 6-foot-6 sophomore guard Olivier Saint-Jean and some sparkling free-throw shooting was the difference between them Tuesday night.

Saint-Jean, playing in only his fourth game with San Jose State after becoming eligible in late December, scored 25 points and led the Spartans to an 88-77 victory over turnover-plagued Fullerton in the opening Big West Conference game before 757 at Titan Gym. The Spartans made 25 of 29 free throws to help their cause.

The outcome left San Jose State 2-7, Fullerton 1-8.

Saint-Jean is a native of France who played his freshman season and four games last season at Michigan before transferring to San Jose State before the spring semester. He said he was seeking “an atmosphere to better develop skills.”

“It was not a matter of unhappiness,” Saint-Jean said. “It was more a matter of not feeling I had the skills to compete at that level. I wanted to go to a smaller school with a different atmosphere.”

The Spartans had four other players in double figures.

John Williams had 21 points and Chuck Overton 20 for Fullerton, but the Titans couldn’t overcome their 24 turnovers and San Jose State’s 51.7% shooting.