Quicker Lineup Effective for Titans

Give Cal State Fullerton basketball Coach Bob Hawking a choice and he’ll take quickness over height every time.

“The nice thing would be to have both,” Hawking said. “But we don’t have what you’d call a true low-post player, so we’re trying to take advantage of the things we do have.”

Quickness is one of them. It helped the Titans in Saturday’s 76-70 victory over San Diego, and Hawking hopes it will again in the future.

Hawking moved 6-foot-7 Mark Richardson from forward to center and 6-7 Ike Harmon from the wing to power forward, leaving freshmen centers Corey Sanders and Matt Caldwell on the bench at the start. The other starters were senior guards Chris Dade and Chris St. Clair and senior forward Craig Whitehead.

That group was especially effective when the Titans had their fastbreak rolling against the Toreros, and it’s the lineup Hawking probably will start Saturday against UCLA.

The victory over San Diego might have been a breakthrough game for Harmon. Harmon, a standout at Santa Ana Valley High who sat out his freshman season as a Proposition 48 nonqualifier, had 27 points and 10 rebounds, both team highs, in 34 minutes. It was the most he has played this season.

“Ike did a lot of things really well in that game,” Hawking said. “It should be a good starting point to build on what he’s already learned.”

It was only Harmon’s fifth college game, and the first time he played more than 26 minutes. Harmon had foul trouble early in his first game at Utah and played only 15 minutes. Then he suffered a concussion early in the second half against Norfolk (Va.) State, sat out the next game and played only 15 minutes against Loyola Marymount.

Harmon seemed to play with more confidence last week against Pepperdine. He scored 15 points, 11 of them in the second half, in that game. But his effort against San Diego was his best of the season, and lifted his scoring average to 13.2 points.

Harmon took only 15 shots in his first three games but was able to get off 21 against the Toreros, apparently helped by the move closer to the basket in the No. 4 position.

“I’m looking for him to be more consistent as he gets more comfortable,” Hawking said. “We feel he’ll be more effective right now at No. 4. Eventually he’ll probably go back to No. 3, because we think he can be effective there too, but that may or may not be this season. It will depend on how our other guys are doing, and how Ike is adjusting.”

*

As expected, the Titans have been strong at guard. St. Clair has been effective at the point, and Chris Dade again is a key figure on defense, in addition to being the team’s most consistent scoring threat. Dade is averaging 20.2 points and St. Clair 12.8.

They also are a big reason the Titans have an average of 5.3 fewer turnovers than their opponents. Dade has a team-leading 17 steals and St. Clair seven.

Hawking says Whitehead, averaging 10.5 points, also has improved on defense since last season. “We know he can shoot, but we need him to play good defense and to rebound well,” Hawking said.

Loyola Marymount was the only team to shoot better than 40% against Fullerton this season until San Diego shot 55%. Utah shot only 36.2%, even though the Utes won easily, and Pepperdine was held to 37.9% in its victory.

*

The Titans are 4-2 for the season, about where they were expected to be after six games. They also were 4-2 last season, and went on to win their next three.

But they face a big challenge against 12th-ranked UCLA Saturday. It will be Fullerton’s second game of the season against a nationally ranked team, and Hawking is hoping for a better showing than in the 87-59 loss to ninth-ranked Utah.

Hawking says he has no doubt about the benefit of playing teams as strong as UCLA and Utah.

“You have to play great teams to get to that level yourself,” Hawking said. “Playing UCLA will be another good report card for us.”

Hawking says he hopes to keep both teams on future Fullerton schedules, although no commitments have been made for next season.

Titan Notes

Soccer Coach Al Mistri is pleased to see UCLA advance to the NCAA final four in Richmond, Va. “They’re a quality team, and they’ll represent our conference well,” Mistri said. “Of course, it could have been us there if we had been more consistent.” The Titans defeated UCLA in the regular season, but losses to Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo cost Fullerton the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation division championship. . . . Titan sports information director Mel Franks notes that the men’s basketball team will be facing its third consecutive team coached by a former Jim Harrick assistant when the Titans meet Steve Lavin’s UCLA team Saturday. The two previous opponents, Pepperdine and San Diego, are coached by former Harrick aides Lorenzo Romar and Brad Holland. . . . The wrestling team was 29th among 41 teams in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last weekend. No Fullerton wrestler finished in the top eight in his weight division. Steve Duran, who wrestles at 158 pounds, has the best season record among the Titans at 8-4.