Yaphett King and Pape Sow each scored 20 points Thursday night to lead
Cal State Fullerton to a 74-66 Big West Conference victory at Long Beach
State.
The win snapped Fullerton's (5-8, 1-3) 4-game losing streak and extended
Long Beach's (4-10, 2-3) losing streak to three in a row.
King's first of 5 first-half 3-point field goals gave Fullerton the lead
for good at 8-6 and the Titans led by as many as 13 points before settling
for a 12-point halftime lead. Sow scored Fullerton's first 9 points of
the second half and the lead stayed around double figtures most of the
game. The 49ers closed
within five points with just under three minutes remaining, but a 4-1
run by the Titans lifted CSUF to the victory.
Jibril Hodges led The Beach with 20 points., including five three-pointers.
Down 70-58, Long Beach charged back using a 7-0 run to close within
70-65 after a made free throw by Antoine Jackson with 2:58 remaining.
The 49ers would miss 4-of-6 from the free throw line in the final
minutes, and committed two key turnovers down the stretch.
Two free throws by Bobby Brown with 0:29 left sealed the win.
Antoine Jackson led The Beach with eight rebounds, while Kevin Roberts
chipped in seven rebounds and 10 points. The Beach shot just 41% from
the field, while Fullerton connected on .460 of its shots. The 49ers
hurt themselves at the free throw line hitting just 16-26 of its attempts.
Sow led the Titans with 11 rebounds for his fourth consecutive doiuble-double.
. King's previous career best was 11 oints and he had 17 in the first
half, making all 5 of his trey attempts.
Bron Groomes and Brown each chipped in 10 points respectively. The Titans
finished with just 11 turnovers in the contest and distributed 19 assists.
Brown
had six assists in 38 minutes and no turnovers.
Fullerton plays at 1 p.m. game on Fox Sports Net West 2 television Saturday
at UC Irvine.
