MEN's BASKETBALL: Titans Make First Visit to Galen Center At
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
800 N. State College Blvd. CAL STATE FULLERTON Fullerton, CA 92834-6810 ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS P: (657) 278-3981 • F: (657) 278-3141 www.FullertonTitans.com MEN’S BASKETBALL: Titans Make First Visit to Galen Center at USC Prepared on Nov. 22, 2010 Contact: Mel Franks, (657) 278-3981 or [email protected] UPCOMING: Wed., Nov. 24 -- at USC, Galen Center (10,258), 7:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 27 -- Cal State Bakersfield,Titan Gym (4,000), 6:05 p.m. Tues. Nov. 30 -- at Montana, Dahlberg Arena (7,500), 7 p.m. MST IN A NUTSHELL: The vertically-challenged Titans (1-3) make their first appearance at USC’s Galen Center where they will run into the top two returning rebounders in the Pac-10 in the Trojans’ (3-2) 6-10 Nikola Vucevic and 6-10 Alex Stepheson. The Titans may get their lone returning starter back in Jer’Vaughn Johnson, a 6-6 senior forward, who has been sidelined for about 6 weeks with a knee injury. He returned to practice on Nov. 18 and hopes to be cleared for “contact” by Wednesday night. Fullerton is coming off its first win, 62-59, at San Diego Sunday where the Titans outrebounded their first opponent of the year by “going big” -- with 5-11, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 and 6-7 starters. AUDIO: Most Titan games can be heard live on the internet. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.fullertontitans.com and follow the links. Mike Martinez will call the game at USC. POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUP: No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg a/rpg Quick Notes G 21 Perry Webster 6-1 Jr. 7.3 5.0a Averaged 5.7 assists in Hawai’i tournament; 5 go-ahead points at USD G 3 Devon Peltier* 5-11 Sr. 14.3 2.8r Career-high 24 points at San Diego and final rebound G 14 Orlando Brown 6-1 Jr. 7.8 6.5r Forced to front line by injuries and shares team lead in rebounding F 15 Orane Chin* 6-7 Jr. 19.8 6.5r Scored career-high 27 points at Hawai’i; 12 rebounds vs. Cent. Michigan F 45 Steve Jurich 6-7 Jr. 7.0 3.3r Missed Montana State game due to back problem after starting first 2 games OFF THE BENCH: G 11 Roger Guardia 6-4 Sr. 1.0 1.7r 25-year-old Spaniard is transfer from Cuesta College with one year to play G 13 Isiah Umipig 6-1 Fr. 9.0 2.0r Tied game vs. Central Michigan with trey with 1:01 to play G 32 Eric Williams* 6-3 Sr. 1.5 1.5r Walk-on played career-high 22 minutes at USD in first Div. I start C 33 Sedric Martin 6-6 Jr. 3.3 2.0r Transfer from New Mexico Military Institute F 42 Chris Collins 6-4 Fr. DNP DNP Walk-on freshman from Chino Hills HS DISABLED LIST: F 12 Jer’Vaughn Johnson* 6-6 Sr. #11.3 #6.5r Returned to practice floor Thursday; questionable for USC game F 0 Andre Hardy 6-6 Jr. @7.5 @5.5r Had surgery to remove bone chips, repair ligament in his ankle; out to Dec. *letters earned # - in 2009-10 @ - in 2008-09 at Oral Roberts HOW YOU SAY IT: dee-VAHN pehl-tee-AY • Steve JUHR-itch • OHR-uhn Chin • Roger GWAHR-dee-uh • igh-ZAY-uh YOO-muh-pig LAST GAME: The Titans survived four missed shots by San Diego in the final 5 seconds Sunday to win their first game of the year, 62-59. Leading 60-59, the Titans saw the Toreros miss three shots in the paint before Devon Peltier rebounded, was fouled and made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left. USD’s Matt Dorr then missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer. Three Titans fouled out. Peltier led the scoring with a career-high 24 points, 14 in the second half. Orane Chin had 11 points and 8 rebounds before fouling out. Perry Webster scored only 5 points but they came on consecutive possessions and gave Fullerton the lead for good at 60-58, erasing a 58-55 deficit. He, too, fouled out. IN HAWAI’I: The Titans opened the season in the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, suffering three narrow losses. They got beat by Central Michigan (70-67) on a 3-pointer at the buzzer, by Hawai’i (84-70) when the hosts scored the final 14 points of the game in the final 3:12 and by Montana State (80-76), twice failing to defensively rebound missed free throws in the final 29 seconds. NO EXPERIENCE: With no two-years or more lettermen, the Titans field a roster that has a total of only nine seasons of Div. I experience (Johnson 3, Hardy 2, Chin 2, Williams 1 and Peltier 1) and only four of those are at Fullerton (Johnson, Chin, Williams and Peltier 1 each). With Johnson and Hardy sidelined, the Titans took only eight healthy scholarship players to Oahu with a total of four seasons of Div. I experience. THE COACH: Bob Burton is 124-95 in his eighth season at Cal State Fullerton and career. He has the most victories at the Div. I level and trails only Alex Omalev (139-176 in 12 years) all-time. Burton’s winning percentage of .566 trails only Bobby Dye (.583, 109-78). He is 0-1 vs. USC and 0-1 vs. Kevin O’Neill, losing at Arizona on Nov. 28, 2007. ROAD WARRIORS: Under Bob Burton, the Titans have made dramatic strides as a road team. In the past six seasons plus four game this year, they are 59-55 (.518) away from Titan Gym (includes 11-15 on neutral floors). For the previous 10 seasons (1994-95 thru 2003-04) the combined road record was 30-115 (.207). With a 3-11 mark in his first season (2003-04), Burton’s total CSF road record is 62-66 (.484). ABOUT THE TROJANS: USC is 3-2 and coming off a 1-1 trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, to complete the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic. The Trojans lost to Rider at home and vs. Bradley on Saturday before beating New Mexico State, 80-61, on Sunday. SERIES HISTORY: USC leads the all-time series, 2-0, winning twice in the Sports Arena -- 78-63 on Dec. 11, 2002, and 96-90 in OT on Dec 9, 2003. PAC-10 HISTORY: Fullerton is 4-21 all-time vs. the current Pac-10 alignment with all of those games except one (75-55 W vs. Washington on Dec. 19, 1986, in Titan Gym) on the Pac-10 floors. The other three wins have come at UCLA, Oregon State and Arizona. The records: 1-0 vs. Washington; 1-1 vs. Oregon State (1-0 NIT); 1-3 vs. Arizona; 1-9 vs. UCLA; 0-1 vs. Cal (NIT); 0-2 vs. USC and Arizona State (0-1 NIT); and 0-3 vs. Oregon. The Titans play again at Arizona on Dec. 8. TITAN PLAYER THUMBNAILS: ORLANDO BROWN - surprising team rebounding co-leader (6.5 rpg) at 6-foot-1... also has guarded opponents’ top scoring threat. ORANE CHIN - made the Rainbow Classic all-tournament team, averaging 22.7 points and 6.0 rebounds... scored a career-high 27 vs. Hawai’i and came back with 24 vs. Montana State... had 12 rebounds vs. Central Michigan... played small forward last year. CHRIS COLLINS - walk-on did not play in Hawai’i. ROGER GUARDIA - played only 16 minutes total in Hawai’i... did not play at all vs. Central Michigan. ANDRE HARDY - underwent surgery late summer for bone chips and ligament damage in ankle; due back late December. JER’VAUGHN JOHNSON - only returning starter from last year... strained knee ligament in early practice session; released to practice again on Nov. 18 but not yet cleared to play in games. STEVE JURICH - averaged 8 points and 2.5 rebounds in two starts in Hawai’i before back problem sidelined him... came off the bench at San Diego and played 21 minutes with 5 points and 5 rebounds. Big West Conference SEDRIC MARTIN - played about 12 minutes per game in Hawai’i, averaging 3.3 points and 2.0 re- Pre-Season Poll bounds... hit two free throws at 3:39 to tie Hawai’i game at 70-70... has fouled out twice. Media DEVON PELTIER - was most of the Titans’ offense in the second half at San Diego, scoring 14 of 1. UC Santa Barbara (20) ................204 his career and game-high 24 points... averaged 11 points but shot poorly in Hawai’i, going combined 2. Long Beach State (2) ...................180 3. Pacific (1) .....................................161 1-for-10 from 3-point line in first two games... 5-for-12 treys on way to 19 points vs. Montana State. 4. UC Davis .....................................126 5. Cal Poly SLO .................................96 ISIAH UMIPIG - freshman hit game-tying trey vs. Central Michigan with 1:01 to play... averaged 6. UC Irvine .......................................93 10 points and 2.0 rebounds in Hawai’i... back-up point guard ended up at starting small forward vs. 7. Cal State Fullerton .......................81 Montana State. 8. Cal State Northridge ......................55 9. UC Riverside .................................39 (x) first-place votes PERRY WEBSTER - averaged 8 points and 5.7 assists in Hawai’i... called for charge with 5 seconds left in tie game vs. Central Michigan, setting stage for game-winnng shot by CMU..