Pape Sow and Yaphett King each scored 23 points Saturday night as Cal
State Fullerton won handily in the regular season finale at Cal State
Northridge, 95-70, to earn the seventh seed in the Big West Conference
post-season tournament next week in Anaheim.
The Titans improved to 11-16 overall and finished 7-11 and in a tie with
Northridge and UC Riverside for fifth place. The victory total surpasses
last year's 10-19 mark and was the most lopsided Titan road win since
an 89-57 rout at UC Irvine on Jan. 25, 1997. Fullerton is 3-10 on the
road this season.
Joseph Frazier came off the bench to lead the Matadors (11-15, 7-11) with
14 points. CSUN got the No. 6 seed and will face Fullerton in the second
game of Wednesday night's doubleheader that begins at 6 p.m. with No.
8 seed Cal Poly vs. No. 5 seed UC Riverside. The two winners advance to
Thursday night to play either UC Santa Barbara or Idaho. No. 1 seed Utah
State, by coin flip, and No. 2 Pacific have byes until Friday night.
The Titans jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the game's first five minutes
and they were never seriously threatened. CSUN got only as close as 8
points at 26-18 in the first half and 56-48 with 13:35 to play. But Sow
scored the game's next four points and King followed with two free throws
and a 3-pointer to extend themargin to 65-48 and the Titans led by at
least 20 points over the last nine minutes.
The loss for Northridge was its worst at home in 14 years of Div. I competition.
Fullerton shot 53 percent from the floor, its best performance in conference
play all season, and made 28 of 36 free throws. Northridge shot only 38
percent from the floor and made only 6 of 21 3-pointers.
