Titans’ bench does it

FULLERTON — When the Cal State Fullerton looked to the bench in Saturday’s Big West Conference men’s basketball game against visiting UC Irvine, it saw nothing.

But it also saw some significant scoring production.

The polarizing proposition propelled the Titans to a 74-68 win before a revved up homecoming crowd of 3,244 at Titan Gym.

Titans’ reserves Orane Chin and Devon Peltier combined for 38 points, double the output of the Anteaters’ reserves, to help the hosts (10-10, 4-4 in conference) prevail in a seesaw affair that featured 10 lead changes.

Part of Fullerton’s success was a relatively new freelance approach on offense.

“What we did, which is really unbelievable [after a Jan. 16 loss at Cal State Northridge], was throw out most of our offenses and we really worked hard on [the players] just playing,” Titans Coach Bob Burton said. “We found out our guys play way better doing that than thinking about plays and so forth. It’s really funny, if you look over [on our bench], we hold up the plays on the board. But all we have written on it right now is ‘Play.’ We figure if that screws them up, we just give up.”

The bench, however, provided more than basic offensive instruction.

Chin, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who operated primarily in the paint, made seven of 11 field-goal tries and was nine of 13 from the foul line on his way to a career-high 23 points and a career-high eight rebounds.

During one eight-minute stretch in the latter portion of the second half, Chin scored 13 of 15 Fullerton points.

Peltier netted five three-pointers on his way to 15 points, helping soften the center of UCI’s two-three zone by hitting all five three balls in the first 26 minutes.

“Chin [who came in averaging 6.5 points and 3.2 rebounds] played the best he has played since he has been here,” Burton said. “He was really, I thought, the difference at the end of the game, offensively.”

Chin’s three-point play with 9:42 left began his aforementioned dominant stretch. It gave Fullerton a 55-53 advantage. He capped the 13-point run with a free throw with 1:42 left that put the Titans up, 68-66.

After UCI senior center Zack Atkinson missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation, sophomore point guard Jacques Streeter (11 points and 10 assists), hit a driving runner in the lane against strong defensive pressure to make it a four-point lead with 53 seconds left.

UCI (9-13, 3-7) , which pulled within 65-64 on a Michael Hunter three-pointer with 2:34 left, failed to produce a field goal the rest of the way.

Hunter, who began the second half on the bench after a scoreless opening period in which he had two field-goal attempts, hit four three-pointers and led the ’Eaters with 16 points.

UCI sophomore Eric Wise had 14 points and 13 rebounds, with six offensive boards to help UCI collect half of its 42 rebounds on the offensive end.

Fullerton had 32 rebounds, but finished 49% from the field, while UCI shot 40.6% for the game (26 of 64).

“That’s what kept [the ’Eaters] in the game,” Burton said of UCI’s strong rebounding. “They were really aggressive and really pounded us on the boards.”

Junior guard Darren Moore had 13 points and six rebounds for UCI, which received nine points off the bench from junior guard Patrick Rembert.

‘[Chin and Peltier] are really good,” Streeter said. “They can really carry us [at times].”

Streeter also acknowledged that the new offensive approach, which has now produced back-to-back wins, has helped.

“It lets us just play,” Streeter said. “Sometimes when we tend to think a lot on offense, it causes turnovers. So [Burton] told us just to play and when we play, it’s like the greatest offense ever, because we’re moving and passing and were being unselfish and we’re scoring.”

It was the third straight loss for UCI, the sixth in the last seven games.

“It’s a tough stretch, but we’ve got to keep battling,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “Our guys came in energized and it was a good ballgame. But, in the end, it’s a loss.”

Burton also singled out the play of 6-6 junior Jer’Vaughn Johnson, who had 15 points and eight rebounds and battled Wise inside.

Big West Conference

Cal State Fullerton 74, UC Irvine 68

UCI – Wise 14, Folker 0, Hunter 16, Moore 13, Lalehzadeh 6, Rembert 9, Strings 3, Atkinson 3, Losonsky 2, Simek 2.

3-pt. goals – Hunter 4, Moore 3, Strings 1, Rembert 1.

Fouled out – Moore, Simek.

Technicals – None.

CSUF – Johnson 15, Anderson 5, Webster 0, Streeter 11, Thompson 5, Chin 23, Peltier 15.

3-pt. goals – Peltier 5, Streeter 2, Thompson 1.

Fouled out – Moore.

Halftime – CSUF, 33-29.