Pacific Solves the Puzzle of Fullerton

FULLERTON —  Cal State Fullerton hasn’t been one of Pacific’s favorite stops on the Big West basketball tour. The Tigers had won only once in Titan Gym in 10 previous games, and even the last two Titan teams that won only a combined 13 games managed home-court victories against more highly regarded Pacific teams.

But Pacific changed that pattern Saturday night in front of 1,711 by making eight of 20 three-point shots on the way to a 67-60 victory in a matchup of the most successful Big West teams in nonconference play.

It was Pacific’s 11th consecutive victory--the school’s second longest winning streak--after a season-opening loss to Fresno State. Pacific is 2-0 in the Big West for the first time since the 1986-87 season. The loss ended a four-game winning streak at home for Fullerton (7-4, 0-1).

“This has been a nightmare place for us,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said.

It looked as if it might be another bad night for Pacific when 7-foot center and leading scorer Michael Olowokandi went out with a sprained knee two minutes into the game.

Olowokandi wasn’t able to return, but junior Rayne Mahaffey came off the bench to pick up the slack, scoring 16 points. “Mahaffey really stepped up for us,” Thomason said. “It hurt to lose Olowokandi because we thought he would be the factor that they would have trouble dealing with.”

But it still was a three-point game at 61-58 with 1 minute 7 seconds left, after Chris St. Clair made two free throws, but Pacific got athree-point basket by reserve guard Tim Bowman with 33 seconds left that put the Titans away.

“We contested that shot,” St. Clair said. “He just made it good, and all you can do is give him credit for that. They had picked us apart from outside in the first half.”

Forward Mark Boelter got the Tigers off to a fast start with 13 points in the first half, making three of seven from three-point range, although he cooled in the second half and finished with 14 points.

Pacific made six of 13 from the three-point range in the first half and 14 of 28 from the field to take a 38-29 halftime lead. The Titans came back to cut the deficit to one point with slightly more than nine minutes left, but fell short of regaining the lead.

“It was an uphill battle,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “We got behind and couldn’t get over the hump. We knew we had to defend the three-point shot. We just didn’t do it well enough.”

Hawking said the Titans didn’t do much differently when Olowokandi went out. “We felt we were well-prepared, but they’re a good team with or without him,” he said. Hawking changed his starting lineup, leaving forward John Williams and guard Chris Dade, the two leading scorers, on the bench for the opening tipoff. “It was a coach’s decision,” Hawking said.

Williams played 30 minutes, and led the Titans with 20 points, making seven of 10 from the field. Dade again struggled with his shooting, going two for eight from the field and finishing with eight points. St. Clair had 11 points and forward Craig Whitehead 10.

The Titans had a 34-30 rebounding advantage, shot 44.7% from the field and made 16 of 21 free throws, but couldn’t overcome Pacific’s three-point success.

“They sure battled,” Pacific forward Vic Trierweiler said. “They keep on coming at you. I think they’re a better team than last year. They seem to be playing better together.”