Center Pape Sow scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Cal State
Fulleton rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit Saturday night as the
Titans defeated UC Riverside, 69-66, in Big West Conference action.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Highlanders, now 6-12 and 3-7.
Nate Carter led UCR with 25 points and Vili Morton had 12 before fouling
out with 4:48 to play.
Fullerton got 15 points from Yaphett King and 10 from Anthony Bolton to
impove to 7-12, 3-7.
The Titans played without guards Derick Andrew and David Warsaw. Andrew
was dismissed from the team and Warsaw was absent due to an illness in
the family.
Fullerton scored the first 13 points of the second half to pull within
a point at 40-39 before Morton made a dunk shot at 14:32. Fullerton took
the lead for good at 47-46 at 11:45 on a 3-pointer by Zakee Smith, only
his third of the season. The lead got as large as 6 points on two occasions.
The key bucket was by Bolton, who made the score 67-63 with 21 seconds
to play. Hardy Asprilla added two free throws for Fullerton and Carter
hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final score.
Riveside jumped out to an early 12-8 lead and then made an 11-0 run to
lead, 23-8, with 9:49 to go in the first half. Sow picked up two fouls
in the first 3 minutes but managed to play 13 minutes in the half and
didn’t get No. 3 until 10 minutes to play in the game. UCR hit 5
of 11 3-point baskets in the first half but only 1 of 9 after intermission.
Conversely, Fullerton was 2 of 10 behind the arc in the first half and
5 of 10 in the second half.
The game was a mirror image of Fullerton’s 64-60 loss at Riverside
on Jan. 10. In that game, UCR used a 15-2 run early in the second half
to erase a 13-point deficit and the Highlanders made the key plays down
the stretch.
