Pape Sow scored 18 points and Anthony Bolton added 17 points and a career-high
14 rebounds Saturday night to lead Cal State Fullerton to an 83-63 non-conference
victory over Occidental College.
In winning their fourth game in five tries, the Titans (4-4) reached the
.500 mark for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Evan Godfrey
and Dallin Wilson scored 15 points each for Occidental, an NCAA Div. III
institution, which saw its 4-game win streak end as the Tigers fell to
6-2.
Fullerton took control of the game in the final 8:35 of the first half,
going on a 26-11 run to turn a 24-19 lead into a 50-30 halftime bulge.
The Tigers made a run early in the second half, drawing to within 59-52
at 13:03 on Godfrey’s second 3-pointer of the half. After a timeout,
Fullerton began forcing the ball inside and fouled out reserve center
Wes Olison in four minutes while stretching the lead out to 73-54 with
a 14-2 run. The Titans switched from a man-to-man to a zone defense and
cooled off the Tigers.
Occidental had one last gasp as back-to-back 3-pointers by Dan Murphy
and Derek Renee cut the gap to 14 points at 74-60 with 6:13 to play. The
Titans slowed the pace and held the Tigers to 3 points the rest of the
game.
Fullerton won the battle of the backboards, 37-26, and committed only
7 turnovers to 19 for the visitors, who beat Fullerton a year ago in a
pre-season exhibition game when the Titans suited only 7 players.
Fullerton plays next on Dec. 30, hosting Loyola Marymount. Occidental
plays against against another Div. I team — at UNLV — on Jan.
7.
