Titans Showcase Offense in Exhibition Victory

It was only an exhibition game, but Cal State Fullerton showed some signs again Wednesday night of being a high-scoring basketball team this season.

The Titans racked up more than 100 points for the second time in two exhibition tuneups in Titan Gym, rolling to a 114-89 victory over the Blue Angels, a collection of former college players.

“It’s hard to tell very much from the competition we’ve played so far, but I think we’ll have some firepower this season,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “However, our tests are still ahead of us.”

The first comes on Monday night when the Titans open the season at Kansas State.

Jason Cunningham scored 29 points and Ike Harmon 22 to lead the way, and three other Titans were in double figures. Mark Richardson finished with 17, freshman Brandon Campbell had 14 and junior transfer Mark Murphy had 13. Harmon had a team-leading 11 rebounds.

“I liked the balance,” Hawking said. “We had six guys in double figures the last game and five this time even though we’re still a little short-handed.”

Center Matt Caldwell was held out of the game because of a slight ankle sprain. “He turned the ankle over the weekend, and we didn’t want to take any chances with it in a situation like this,” Hawking said.

With Caldwell out and freshman Josh Fischer still not cleared to play after a bout with mononucleosis, Cunningham had to move inside to the power forward spot for a major part of the game, and he responded well.

Cunningham was 13 of 16 from the floor, Harmon nine of 12 and Richardson eight of 10 on a night when Fullerton shot 56.8% from the field. Harmon fouled out with 5 1/2 minutes left.

“Ike needs to learn from this game,” Hawking said. “He had a couple of questionable fouls, but he picked up a couple he didn’t need to get. We need him on the floor this season, not in foul trouble.”

The Titans had 31 assists--11 by point guard Kenroy Jarrett--and only 10 turnovers, a contrast that particularly pleased Hawking. Hawking also thought the defense was improved over the first exhibition game.

“The defense was better, although it’s difficult to assess it because we had some guys playing out of position,” Hawking said.

Fullerton’s running game looked especially sharp at times, and the Titans took a 19-4 lead in the first five minutes. The Blue Angels came back to close the gap to 50-44 at halftime.

Cunningham and Harmon had good first halves. Cunningham scored 17 points, making seven of 10 shots from the field. Harmon was five of eight from the floor and had 12 points before the break.

The Titans got their running game going again in the second half to pull away and reached the 100-point mark with 4 1/2 minutes left.

In the NCAA Division III West Regional men’s soccer tournament:

Chapman 2, Cal Lutheran 1--Chris Retzer, with an assist by Aaron Poling, scored the winning goal in the 76th minute in the first-round game at Thousand Oaks.

Chapman’s Mike Sterner, who scored the game’s first goal, giving him a school-record tying 100 points in his college career. Eddie Alvarez set the mark from 1980 to ’83. Sterner has a school-record 44 goals in four seasons.

Sterner scored an unassisted goal from seven yards out early in the second half.

Wednesday’s victory over defending NCAA regional champion Cal Lutheran advances the Panthers to the second round, where they will play Pacific University (Ore.) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Cal Lutheran (14-6) outshot Chapman, 25-9, but outstanding goalkeeping by Paul Gerdis helped Chapman. Gerdis had 11 saves. Luis Alcaraz scored for Cal Lutheran. Chapman is 12-7-1.