FULLERTON — Just how talented is the latest version of the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team?
UC Santa Barbara learned the hard way on Thursday night.
Fullerton, picked to finish last out of 11 teams in the Big West Conference preseason poll, maintained a double-digit lead for nearly the entire game against UCSB before closing out a 94-85 win at Titan Gym.
“That’s a good ballclub,” Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said of UCSB. “For us to do what we did to them is an anomaly.”
The Gauchos, picked to finish second in the Big West behind UC Irvine, fell behind 16-2 in the opening five minutes and were chasing the entire night thanks partly to 24 turnovers that led directly to 42 Fullerton points.
Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro scored 25 points to lead Fullerton (6-9 overall, 1-2 Big West), making all 14 of his free-throw attempts.
It was the third 20-point game in the past five for De La Cruz Monegro, who averaged 10.1 points per game for Valparaiso last season.
“Coach believes in me and my teammates believe in me and I also believe in myself,” De La Cruz Monegro said.
KJ Garris came in averaging 7.9 ppg, but contributed 18 off the bench, and freshman guards Christian Williams and Bryce Cofield scored 17 points apiece.
“Just preparing myself mentally, physically,” Garris said. “Also, my teammates, just keeping me going.”
After dropping their first two Big West games last month by single digits, the Titans went on the road and posted an impressive 105-86 nonconference win at Denver on Dec. 13, and played Oklahoma State close eight days later before losing, 94-89.
Fullerton didn’t play well in a 110-63 blowout loss at SMU last Sunday, but the Titans were back on their game Thursday and they feasted on the Gaucho turnovers.
They led by as many as 21 points in the first half before taking a 50-36 lead into the break.
The Gauchos finally cut the lead back to single digits on a 3-pointer by Zion Sensley with 10:39 left to make it 67-59, but Fullerton came back with a 7-0 run to go back up by 15 points and UCSB didn’t get closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“You expect them to come back and give us some fight because they’re a proud program, and they’re actually really talented as well,” Taylor said.
The Titans finished 30 for 37 from the free-throw line, compared to 10 for 10 for the Gauchos.
“When you compete like that and you get to the free-throw line and you shoot that level of success, you can expect good things,” Taylor said.
The Titans sent notice by unleashing a 13-0 run in the opening minutes to boost them to a 16-2 lead
UCSB guard Aidan Mahaney, who played for Connecticut last season and was a two-time first-team All-WCC selection at Saint Mary’s before that, sank a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 18-11 with 12:58 left in the first half.
Mahaney went to the bench with his second foul nine seconds later, however, and Fullerton followed with a 14-0 run to expand its lead to 32-11 with 10:23 remaining in the half.
Mahaney checked back in during the run and hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions and his 6-footer then cut the lead to 49-36 with 1:37 left before the Titans took a 50-36 lead into intermission.
Fullerton shot 56.7% from the floor in the first half and forced 13 turnovers.
“Credit to these guys, they just came out and competed,” said Taylor, whose team next hosts first-place UCI on Saturday. “They’re competing and they’re learning through competing. They’re learning through our losses as well, but this group came out and competed and we competed our behind off tonight and then they executed from a defensive standpoint and took care of business at the line.”
Mahaney scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half for UCSB (9-5, 2-1), which outscored Fullerton 42-15 from 3-point range but couldn’t overcome the turnovers.
CJ Shaw added 18 points, Hosana Kitenge scored 16 before fouling out with 6:25 left and Sensley finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Gauchos, who travel to Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
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