FULLERTON — The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team was locked in another thriller, winning this one in the final minute thanks to a late steal and layup from Joshua Ward.
Ward scored 20 points, making a pair of tiebreaking free throws with 21 seconds left before stealing an inbound pass and scoring on a fast-break with nine seconds left as Fullerton rallied for a 75-71 victory over UC San Diego on Thursday night at Titan Gym.
The win gives the Titans (16-15 overall, 11-8 Big West) a season sweep of UCSD (21-10, 11-8) as teams continue to jockey for seeding in next week’s Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada. The top two seeds for the eight-team event will be UC Irvine and Hawaii (order to be determined), but five teams are separated by one game in the battle for seeds 3-7, with Fullerton part of a four-way tie for fourth place going into Saturday’s regular-season finales.
The Titans play at third-place Cal State Northridge (19-12, 12-7) on Saturday night, while UCSD plays at UC Santa Barbara (18-12, 11-8) and UC Davis (18-12, 11-8), the other team locked in the four-way tie, finishes at UCI. Cal Poly is locked into the eighth seed for a tournament that rewards the top two seeds with double-byes into the semifinals, while the third and fourth seeds get byes into the quarterfinals.
Ward scored 16 of his points during Fullerton’s second-half rally and finished the game 7 for 14 from the field (2 for 8 from 3-point range) to go with three rebounds and three assists. Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro added 14 points (4 for 7 from 3-point range) to go with eight rebounds and five assists. Jaden Henderson contributed 12 points and Landon Seaman finished with nine points and five assists.
Hudson Mayes had 13 points and eight rebounds to pace UCSD, which saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. Leo Beath, Bol Dengdit and Emanuel Prospere II each had 12 points, and Jaden Vance scored 10.
The Tritons took a 10-9 lead at the 13:39 mark of the first half and led until the final two minutes of the game. They held a 39-29 advantage at halftime and by as much as 12 before Fullerton closed the game on a 19-7 run.
Neither team shot the ball well early, but the pace was brisk. UCSD used a 9-0 run to open a 17-9 lead and extended the margin to 29-18 with 6:56 left in the half. The Tritons shot 53% in the first half and held a 39-29 advantage at the break, while the Titans shot 30%.
A Ward 3-pointer cut UCSD’s lead to 56-50, but a Beath 3-pointer gave the visitors a nine-point lead with 9:14 remaining.
Bryce Cofield scored five straight points during a 7-0 Fullerton surge to get the hosts within 64-63 with 3:43 left. The Titans tied the score on a Ward 3-pointer with 1:58 left, then UCSD’s Beath and Fullerton’s De La Cruz Monegro traded 3-pointers to knot the score at 69-all with 1:28 left.
UCSD went in front again on a driving layup from Prospere with less than a minute to play, but Kendrick De Luna dunked off a feed from De La Cruz Monegro to tie the score again with 41 seconds left. UCSD missed a 3-point shot with 24 seconds left, and Ward grabbed the rebound and was fouled. His free throws gave Fullerton the lead for good, then his late steal and layup secured the win.
Fullerton shot 58% in the second half and made nine of its final 10 shots from the field in its final home game of the season.
UP NEXT
Cal State Fullerton at Cal State Northridge, Saturday, 5 p.m.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
Through Thursday, March 5
Team – Overall, Big West
Hawaii – 22-7, 14-5
UC Irvine – 21-10, 14-5
Cal State Northridge – 19-12, 12-7
UC San Diego – 21-10, 11-8
UC Santa Barbara – 18-12, 11-8
UC Davis – 18-12, 11-8
Cal State Fullerton – 16-15, 11-8
Cal Poly (SLO) – 13-18, 9-10
Long Beach State – 9-22, 5-14
UC Riverside – 10-22, 5-15
Cal State Bakersfield – 8-23, 2-17
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