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Titans
Finish Home Schedule with UCSB, SLO Feb. 24, 2004 – Fullerton, Calif. UPCOMING: Thur., Feb. 26 -- UC Santa Barbara, Titan Gym (3,500), 7:05 p.m. Sat., Feb. 28 -- Cal Poly SLO, Titan Gym (3,500), 7:05 p.m. Thur., Mar. 4 -- at Pacific, Spanos Center (6,150), 7:00 p.m. Sat., Mar. 6 -- at Cal State Northridge, The Matadome (1,600), 7:05 p.m. THE QUICK SCENARIO: The Titans (9-14, 5-9) can virtually lock up a Big West Conference Tournament berth with a pair of home wins this week in the final two home games of the season. They are in a three-way tie for sixth place with UC Riverside and UC Irvine. Long Beach State is one game behind in the win column in ninth place and Cal Poly is in tenth with 3 wins. If the Titans can win only one game, it would help them the most to beat Cal Poly, giving them a season split with one of the teams trying to pass them in the standings. After this week, the Titans finish on the road at Pacific and Cal State Northridge. Fullerton is 2-9 away from Titan Gym and lost to both the Tigers and the Matadors at home to open the conference schedule. Five seniors -- Anthony Bolton, Babacar Camara, Bron Groomes, Zakee Smith and Pape Sow will be saluted before Saturday’s game vs. Cal Poly. “RADIO”: All games can be heard live on the internet on computers with sound cards. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.titansports.org and follow the links. The UCSB game also will be carried live on KWRM 1370 AM. Steve Henkle is at the microphone for the UCSB game and he will be joined by Todd Reeves for the Cal Poly contest. PROBABLE STARTERS: No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg rpg Quick Note G 25 Zakee Smith* 6-0 Sr. 2.0 1.0 Scored final go-ahead buckets in two of last three home wins G 3 Anthony Bolton* 6-7 Sr. 12.1 5.2 Moved to backcourt to fill void created by Andrew and Warsaw departures C 11 Pape Sow** 6-10 Jr. 16.0 9.6 Two more “double-doubles” last week to bring season’s total to 11 F 21 Yaphett King 6-4 Jr. 8.0 4.8 Loves The Beach - averaged 21.5 ppg in two games vs. the 49ers F 40 Bron Groomes* 6-7 Sr. 6.2 3.2 Missed first 10 games due to severed tendon in right pinky finger OFF THE BENCH: G 2 Bobby Brown 6-1 Fr. 12.9 1.8 Highest scoring freshman in Titan history F 24 Hardy Asprilla 6-5 Jr. 4.3 4.6 Twice has grabbed 10 rebounds in a game, at ASU and vs. EWU C 12 Babacar Camara** 6-11 Sr. 1.4 1.7 Averaging about 7 minutes in relief of cousin Sow F 1 Brian Pruitt 6-5 Jr. 4.1 2.2 Has played only 41 minutes over the team’s last 13 games *previous letters earned ABOUT THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara (13-10, 7-7) has lost four of five games since handing the Titans one of their most lopsided losses ever, 77-44, on Jan. 31 in The Thunderdome. The Gauchos were the consensus pre-season pick to win the conference regular season title. They do finish the regular season playing teams in sixth through ninth place in the standings, so they could build some momentum for the Big West Tournament. Branduinn Fullove, last year’s player of the year, is the only Gaucho scoring in double figures at 10.8 ppg. Five others average between 7.1 and 9.6 ppg and the Gauchos hold opponents to 42 percent shooting from the floor. Newcomer Cameron Goettsche (5.4 rpg) is the top rebounder. ABOUT THE MUSTANGS: Cal Poly (8-14, 3-11) has lost five games in a row and remains in tenth place in the Big West Conference standings with two weeks remaining. The Mustangs, who won non-conference games at Cal and USC and have three of the top four scorers in the Big West in Varnie Dennis (18.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Shane Schilling (15.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Kameron Gray (12.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg), have not won since sweeping Fullerton and UC Riverside at home on Jan. 29 and 31. Their only other Big West win was over Idaho on Jan. 8. But they finish with the four teams immediately ahead of them in the standings and could easily leap into the Big West Tournament picture. Dennis missed Saturday’s loss to Pacific due to a knee injury. Schilling is averaging 24.3 points in three previous games against Fullerton. SERIES HISTORIES: UCSB holds a 30-25 edge after winning 10 of the last 11 meetings including a 77-44 rout (39-9 at the half) in the Thunderdome on Jan. 31. UCSB is 13-14 in Titan Gym, where it has won six in a row -- but barely. The margin of victory has been 3, 2 and 3 points in the last three meetings. Cal Poly leads the series, 24-14, including a 10-5 bulge over the past seven-plus seasons of Big West Conference play. Fullerton lost in San Luis Obispo, 80-71, on Jan. 29 in what was a 3-point game with 90 seconds remaining. THE COACHES: Bob Williams is 92-75 in his sixth season at UCSB. He is 10-1 vs. Cal State Fullerton and 1-0 against his good friend Bob Burton. Kevin Bromley is 43-52 in his fourth season at Cal Poly. He is 4-3 vs. Cal State Fullerton and 1-0 vs. Coach Burton. Bob Burton is 9-14 in his first season at Fullerton and the Div. I level. He was 488-158 in 21 seasons at West Valley Community College in Saratoga in northern California. He also served two one-season stints as a Div. I assistant at Utah and Fresno State. HALL OF FAME FOR BURTON: Coach Burton will be inducted into the California Community College Men’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in March in conjunction with the state tournament to be held in San Diego. Joining Burton will be Coach John Chambers from Mt. San Jacinto and Barstow Colleges and Coach Keith Hughes of College of the Sequoias and Reedley College. ROSTER IN FLUX: Fullerton’s playing roster is hovering at nine available players. Since conference play started, the Titans lost Anthony Bolton for five games due to academic problems and have been without reserve guard Denver Lopez, who returned to the Philippines because of his ailing father. Three weeks ago senior guard Derick Andrew was dismissed from the team and his replacement, David Warsaw, withdrew from the team due to personal problems. AT HOME: Fullerton is 7-5 this year in Titan Gym, 4-3 in Big West Conference play. The record last season was 6-6, 5-4 in Big West play. Fullerton hasn’t had a winning record at home since going 10-3 in 1998-99. The all-time (Div. I) Titan Gym record is 232-139 (.625). NEW LOOK TO TITAN GYM: Seemingly each year, 40-year-old Titan Gym gets some updating. The new addition for this season is a hanging scoreboard, sponsored by the Alumni Association of Cal State Fullerton. In recent years the bleachers have given way to chair-back seats, the floor has been redone, new basket supports have been installed, lighting has been upgraded and the seating for players and press row has been improved. CLOSE CALLS: Of Fullerton’s 14 losses, 11 have come by 10 points or less. And of those 11, the Titans held a second-half lead in 7 of them (Sacramento St., USC, LMU, CSUN, UoP, UCR & Utah St.). The Titans led in the final 5 minutes against all but Sacramento. CRUNCHED TIME: If games could go selectively slightly less than 40 minutes, the Titans would be 15-8, to wit: • at USC - if 39 minutes=WIN... Fullerton leads all of the second half except the final 56 seconds, when Desmon Farmer hits a trey to tie a game which goes into overtime, where Fullerton never leads and loses, 96-90. • vs. LMU - if 38:45=WIN... Bolton free throws at 1:19 put CSF up, 67-66. But Charles Brown hits a trey at 1:14 and LMU wins, 71-67. • vs. CSU Northridge - if 38:00= WIN... Brown free throws at 2:18 put CSF up, 52-51. But Davin White hits a 3-pointer at 1:55 and Eto Onyenegecha hits another at 0:57 and CSUN wins, 61-55. • vs. Pacific - if 38:49=WIN... Fullerton takes 58-56 lead at 1:26 on Sow jumper but Christian Maraker free throws at 1:11 force overtime, where Brown runner at 1:49 gives CSF a 64-60 lead. But Maraker makes a two and David Doubley drills a 3-pointer at 1:10 for a 65- 64 UoP lead and the Tigers win, 66-64. • at UC Riverside - if 36:30=WIN... Fullerton takes 56-55 lead on Brown layup but Mark Peters free throw ties it and Rickey Porter puts UCR ahead for good at 60-58 with 1:46 to play. • vs. Utah State - if 37:00=WIN... Brown’s 3-pointer at 3:00 puts Fullerton ahead, 49-48, but Chad Evans free throws at 2:34 put USU ahead to stay as the Aggies score the final 9 points of the game. TREND REVERSES: But in winning their last four home games, the Titans have made clutch plays down the stretch. Against Idaho they didn’t let a 10-point lead with 5:45 to go get smaller than 7 points; against UCR they didn’t let a 6-point lead at 8:08 get smaller than 2 points; against UCI, they broke a tie with 1:47 remaining and made 4-of-4 free throws in the final 40 seconds and against Long Beach they grabbed the eighth and final lead change of the last 4:42, scoring the winning points with 16 seconds remaining. THREE-POINT HIGHS: Fullerton’s perimeter shooting has generally been inferior to the opponents’ but the Titans have had their moments behind the arc this season. Twice the Titans have posted back-to-back flurries. They were 13 of 20 vs. UC Irvine on Feb. 12 and 12 of 22 vs. Long Beach State on Feb. 14 for a combined 25 of 42 (.595). They were a school-record 14 for 24 vs. USC on Dec. 9 and 10 of 16 the next game vs. Eastern Washington for a combined 24 for 40 (.600). Back-to-back games better than 50 percent are extremely rare in recent years, occurring only twice previously in the past 10-plus seasons — the last two games of 2001-02 and Jan. 10 and 13, 1996. Fullerton had only two games over 50 percent all of last season and none in the 1999-2000 or 2000-01 seasons. THREE-POINT LOWS: Fullerton has made more 3-point field goals than its opponent only six times this season — 14 to 7 at USC, 7 to 6 vs. Utah State, 7 to 6 vs. UCR, 13 to 4 vs. UCI, 12 to 5 vs. Long Beach and 7 to 5 at Idaho. The Titans have come out even three times — 8 each at Pepperdine, Long Beach State and Cal Poly. Fullerton has had a better percentage 10 times, going 5-5 in those games. HIGHEST SCORING TITAN FRESHMAN EVER: Bobby “LB” Brown is on pace (12.9 ppg) to become the highest scoring true freshman in Fullerton’s 30-year Div. I history. If he doesn’t score another point in the four remaining games in the regular season, he will average 11.0 ppg. The school freshman standard is Tony Neal, who averaged 10.9 points in 1981-82. The only others to average in double figures are Kevin Heenan (10.5 ppg in 1975-76), Greg Bunch (10.33 in 1974-75) and Mike Niles (10.26 in 1976-77). The balance of the top ten are Ryan Dillon (8.7 in 2000-01), Wayne Williams (8.3 in 1988-89), Gary Davis (6.8 in 1981-82), Josh King (6.69 in 1993-94), David Gilbreath (6.67 in 1980-81) and Richard Morton (5.7 in 1984-85). Bunch, Niles, and Morton all eventually played in the NBA. MORE ON BROWN: He had two remarkably similar games on the road last week. At Idaho he was 5 of 12 (3 of 7 from 3-point land) and had 15 points with 3 assists and 2 turnovers. At Utah State he was 6 of 12 (3 of 7 from 3-point land) for 15 points with 3 assists and 2 turnovers. He broke out of a scoring slump on Feb. 12 with a 21-point second half to rally the Titans to a win over UC Irvine. His Big West Conference player of the week (Dec. 1-7) honor was only the second by a Titan in the last four-plus seasons. (Pape Sow got the award early in 2001-02). Brown was nominated again last week after scoring 32 points in 2 games including the game-winning points in both games. Bobby’s scoring was at its best in Games Nos. 3 to 8 when he was a combined 24-for-41 (.585) from 3-point land and averaged 19.3 points. He gave a hint of his long-range ability in the Nov. 6 exhibition win over Branch West when he made 7 of 8. In Big West play he was shooting 23.6 percent (13 of 55) behind the arc before making 16 of 32 (.500) in the last 5 games. KING ERUPTS: When Anthony Bolton was idled, Yaphett King returned to the starting lineup at UC Riverside for the first time since the season opener. He has now started the last 12 games and in those games he is shooting 23-of 44 (.523) from 3-point land. He was instrumental in CSF’s come-from-behind win vs. UCR, scoring 7 points in a 13-0 run to open the second half. But he has come up huge vs. Long Beach State. In two games he averaged 21.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg. He made 16 of 23 shots including 9 of 13 from 3-point range. In fact, in the two games he was 9-for-9 in the first halves. In Big West play only, he is second in the BWC at .490 (25 of 51). SOW MANY NUMBERS: Pape Sow has 11 “double-doubles” this season and 25 in his career and is AVERAGING one in Big West games at 14.4 ppg and 11.1 rpg. He rang up only the fourth “double-double” of the season vs. Utah State on Saturday when he had 18 points and 13 rebounds against the nationally ranked Aggies. He became the 17th member of the Titans’ 1,000-point club on Thursday night at Idaho and currently ranks No. 14 with 1,020 career points. At No. 13 is Mark Hill with 1,040 and No. 12 is Bruce Bowen with 1,155. In rebounding, Sow passed Bowen (San Antonio Spurs) at 559 and Agee Ward at 563 on Feb. 7 vs. UCR to move into the No. 6 spot on the Titans’ career list and now has 603. At No. 5 at 618 is Cedric Ceballos and No. 4 is Ike Harmon at 662. SOW CONGESTED & POUNDED: Sow is seeing tighter and tighter defenses and more and more of the foul line as the Titans’ perimeter shooting threats have been held in low regard. He has made only 31 of 87 (36 percent) field goal tries over the last 9 games after shooting 56 percent in the first 14 games. He had a season-low 4 points against both UCI and Long Beach. Much of his scoring is coming from the free-throw line (“Pop-a-Pape” strategy?) where he made 44 of 62 (71 percent) in those same nine games. With 174 tries, he easily leads the Big West. He is averaging 7.56 attempts per game which projects to 204 for the regular season, or 22 more than his sophomore year when only UCI’s Jerry Green among Big West Conference players had more free throw attempts. The school record is 257 by Leon Wood in 1983-84. SMITH’S ROLE EVER CHANGING: Zakee Smith lost his starting role to Bobby Brown and did not make the trip to USC (Dec.9) after missing a practice. He was back in uniform but did not play in the next two games behind Brown and Denver Lopez. With Lopez away, Smith averaged 9 minutes the next three games. With Anthony Bolton also idled, Smith averaged more than 15 minutes the next five games. With Bolton back but Bobby Brown struggling, he played 35 minutes on the last road trip and regained his starting position against UCR last Saturday night. In three of the last four home games he scored critical points. He made only one field goal against both Idaho and UCR but each put the Titans ahead to stay— 45-44 at 10:34 vs. Idaho and a trey to make it 47-46 at 11:45 vs. UCR. Against UCI he scored a season-high 9 points to go with 8 assists and only 2 turnovers in 35 minutes. He scored the first “hat trick” at the foul line of his career, making 3-of-3 free throws at the 5:10 mark to halve a 6-point deficit. He made two treys in a game for the first time vs. UCI and matched the feat against Long Beach State. BOLTON RETURNS STRONG: Senior Anthony Bolton has returned from a 5-game absence due to academic problems to post seven consecutive double-figure scoring efforts. He hit the clinching bucket in the UCR win, making the score 67-63 with 21 seconds remaining, and he converted a one-and-one opportunity for a 66-63 lead over UCI with 40 seconds to play. Against Long Beach State he scored 16 points in the second half including 3 of 4 3-point baskets. EARLY BOLTON: He had his two best games of the season to earn Big West Conference Player of the Week honors (Dec. 8-14). At USC he made 7 of 9 shots including all four 3-point attempts on his way to 18 points and a team-high 6 rebounds. Vs. Eastern Washington he scored 22 points and 16 of them came during a 27-9 run over the first 11 minutes of the second half. Prior to the game at USC he was shooting only 30 percent from the floor and 21 percent from 3-point range. Fullerton last had two Big West player of the week awards in the same season in 1998-99 (Ike Harmon and Matt Caldwell). GROOMES RETURNS IMPRESSIVELY: Senior forward Bron Groomes missed the first 10 games of the season due to a severed tendon in his right pinkie finger, suffered in an off-campus assault in October. His first five games back he averaged 5.6 ppg and 2.8 rpg. He has started the last eight, averaging 6.6 ppg and 3.5 rpg. BIG SKY BAROMETER: The Titans played three members of the Big Sky Conference this season and it turns out they tackled the cream of the crop. Eastern Washington is in first place at 11-1 and Northern Arizona and Sacramento State are tied for second at 6-6. The Titans beat EWU, split a pair with Northern Arizona and lost to Sacramento State. FIVE POTENTIAL STARTERS DISAPPEARED EARLY: After Bob Burton was hired on June 6, five players who potentially could have started for the Titans this season were lost to a wide variety of reasons. Leading scorer Ralphy Holmes was expelled in October for a May violation of school rules; forward Jamal Forcheney, who started 14 games last year, was an academic casualty; guard Fedi Holm-Hadulla, who shot 43 per cent from 3-point range and made 6 starts, had to retire due to a cartilage problem in his knee; forward Ron Allen, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Artesia High School idled under the guidelines of Prop. 48, left for the community college ranks; and then forward Bron Groomes, who started 8 games last year, suffered a severed tendon in the little finger of his right hand when someone smashed in a window at his campus residence. He didn’t suit up until Jan. 3 and didn’t play until Jan. 5. BURTON’S RESERVES: Despite his late June 6 hiring, Coach Bob Burton was able to replenish his roster, at least in numbers. Yaphett King and Bobby Brown were brought in on scholarships during the summer and walk-ons Brian Pruitt, Jason Pettaway and Danny Lambert joined the program. In addition, the Titans have landed three four-year transfers in guard Jermaine Harper from Virginia, power forward Lloyd Walls from Wright State and power forward Jamaal Brown from Western Kentucky, who was enrolled on Feb. 2 and will be eligible after next Fall semester. In five games this season, Brown averaged 2.4 points and 2.6 rebounds. As a freshman, he averaged 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds, shooting 48 percent from the floor and 74 percent at the foul line. INCOMING CLASS: The Titans signed three players to national letters of intent during the November recruiting period -- Derek Quinet, 6-8, West Valley JC, San Jose, CA; Junior Taylor, 6-1, Pioneer HS, San Jose, CA; and Ephram Williams, 6-9, Arroyo HS, San Bernardino, CA. The Titans also have added walk-on point guard John Cleammons (6-0, Jr., El Camino JC), who enrolled at the semester. A local community college player also has signed a scholarship and will enroll in the Fall. .
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