University of California, Riverside
Cal State Fullerton
Titans Outrun Highlanders, 90-79
1/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Cal State Fullerton Titans defeated the host UC Riverside Highlanders, 90-79, in a Big West contest in front of a crowd of 918 fans at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside Saturday.
Titans improved to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big West, while the Highlanders fell to 2-3 in the Big West and to 2-13 overall.
The Titans had five players score in double figures, led by Jamaal Brown's 18 points. Bobby Brown had 17 points as did Justin Burns, who also had a game-high 10 rebounds.
For the Highlanders, senior guard Rickey Porter led the way with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. Junior guard Dedrick Bates had a career-high 20 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the three point line and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Senior forward David Misko also had a career-high of 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Steve Williams had 10 points off of the bench.
UCR shot 44.4% (28-of-63) from the field, but the Titans were at 54.2% (32-of-59). The Titans won the rebounding war, 39-30.
Things started out going the Highlanders way as they opened up an 11-3 lead over the first 3:18, but the Titans came back to tie the score at 11-11 with 14:56 left, then took the lead for the first time with 11:13 left on a trey by Bobby Brown. The Titans kept the pressure on, building a 10-point lead at 30-20 with 6:27 left. UCR shaved the margin to six at 32-26 on four free throws by sophomore guard Larry Cunningham, his only points of the game, and a coast-to-coast layup by Williams 4:57 left, but the Titans finished strong to end the half with a 46-35 lead. The Titans shot 14-of-28 (50.0%) from the field while the Highlanders were 13-of-34 (38.2%).
UCR fought back to get the lead into single-digits, cutting it to 70-62 on a layup by Misko with 8:46 left, then again to eight at 75-67 on a three at the shot-clock buzzer by Bates. But an 8-0 run by the Titans built the lead back to 16 at 83-67 with 5:20 left and never looked back.
