FULLERTON
Cal State Fullerton used a strong second-half showing to rout Long Beach State, 85-51, in its final home game of the season in front of 1,249 at Titan Gym.
The Titans (19-8, 11-4) finish out the season with at Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday and at UC Irvine on Saturday.
The Titans scored the first 15 points of the second half to open up a 49-28 lead and turn what had been a fairly close game into a rout. They led by as many as 24 points before Long Beach began chipping away at the lead.
The 49ers scored six consecutive points to trim the lead, 58-41, but Long Beach couldn’t sustain any momentum and quickly fell behind by 21 a few minutes later.
NOTES
…Long Beach turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and a season-high 30 overall. Fullerton scored 40 points off turnovers
…The Titans looked good from outside, but still only made 8 of 21 3-pointers. Scott Cutley and Kenneth Alexander hit uncontested 3-pointers late in the game
…Little-used Eddie Lima entered the game with 2:07 left and scored one basket
…The Titans take a break from Big West play Thursday with a nonconference game at Cal State Bakersfield
MVP
Scott Cutley shook off a hard fall at the end of the first half and notched his seventh double-double of the season and 14th of his career. He scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the victory.
Did you see that?
Long Beach forward Arturas Lazdauskas cleanly blocked a shot by Scott Cutley in the first half then lost the ball out of bounds at the other end of the court. Josh Akognon tried to stop Lazdauskas from getting the ball by pulling on his jersey, a move the referees didn’t call.
Crowd noise
Titan Gym wasn’t as full as it was Thursday for the Cal State Northridge game, but the turnout for the Titans’ home finale was a decent 1,249
They eat their young, too
An enthusiastic fan, dressed in a green fedora and Mickey Mouse hands, was booed lustily by the Titans fans in Section K as he danced to band music. He was gone by the second half.
NEXT
Cal State Fullerton at Cal State Bakersfield, 7 p.m. Thursday
JANIS CARR, The Orange County Register
