Titans End 6-Game Drought With 59-56 Victory Over Pacific

What do you do if you’re the team captain and your team had its last victory celebration 26 days ago? If you’re Herman Webster, you invite all the guys over to watch the VCR.

Webster, Cal State Fullerton’s senior center, held just such a get-together Thursday afternoon at his apartment.

Webster played a tape of Fullerton’s Jan. 3 victory over Fresno State. A few hours later, he and his teammates went out and ended a 26-day drought by beating the University of the Pacific, 59-56, in front of 1,872 spectators in Titan Gym.

Richard Morton had 15 points and Webster contributed 11 points and 5 rebounds to lead the Titans to their first victory in more than three weeks. Fullerton is 2-6 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., 9-8 overall. Pacific is 4-5 and 8-10.

The Titans had a few anxious moments before they could lay a six-game losing streak to rest. Morton hit both ends of a one-and-one with 20 seconds to play to give Fullerton a 59-56 lead that left Pacific a three-point shot away from tying the game. The Tigers had made 4 of 8 three-pointers at that point. Their ninth try, though, a 22-foot desperation job by Willie Tatum with one second remaining, was well off the mark.

The victory left Fullerton Coach George McQuarn ecstatic. “There ain’t nothin’ like a win,” he shouted, using bad grammar only for emphasis. “I can motivate and kick a little tail or kiss a few cheeks . . . but all of those things don’t mean (a thing) compared to a win.”

He said that he had told his team that its goal was to win 10 of its remaining 11 games, starting with the one against Pacific.

“That’s our goal,” McQuarn said. “I told the kids that. You can ask them.”

When asked, Webster replied: “To be honest, we’re looking for 11 out of 11. I feel we can beat (Nevada Las) Vegas at their place. We beat BYU in front of 18,000 people in their place. We beat Fresno there.”

Such unbridled optimism has been absent around Fullerton since the Titans last played Pacific. On Jan. 5, the Tigers beat Fullerton, 58-55, in Stockton. It was Fullerton’s most lackadaisical performance of the season, and it began the Titans’ six-game slide into the bottom of the PCAA standings.

Webster said the memory of that loss, and the memories sparked by the viewing of the tape of the Fresno State game, helped shake some life into the Titans.

“We feel the Fresno game was the best defense we’ve played this year,” he said. “We were just trying to get back to the basics.”

In some respects, the Titans went back to the things that enabled them to start the season with a 7-1 record. They forced 15 Pacific turnovers, and committed only six. They held the Tigers to one offensive rebound. They had nine steals, many of which were converted into easy, fast-break baskets. And they did it all with junior forward Henry Turner, their leading scorer and rebounder, playing with a sprained left ankle. Turner suffered the injury in practice Tuesday. He sat out practice Wednesday. He limped through 19 minutes of playing time against the Tigers and finished with 10 points. Vincent Blow, in a rare start for the Titans, made 4 of 5 shots from the field and had 9 points and 5 rebounds.

Pacific center Brent Counts, who had a career-high 26 points in Pacific’s victory over the Titans earlier this season, was 9 of 11 from the field and had a game-high 19 points. Christian Gray added 18 for the Tigers.