NORTHRIDGE — The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team used a sizzling showing from 3-point range and a dominant finishing kick to beat Cal State Northridge, 90-77, in its regular-season finale on Saturday night, securing the No. 3 seed for next week’s Big West Tournament thanks to a pair of late-season sweeps.
Christian Williams scored 23 points and KJ Garris added 20 as Fullerton shot 18 for 47 from 3-point range (38%) and closed the game on a 15-0 run to win for the fourth time in the past five games and the seventh in the last nine. Fullerton defeated UC San Diego in similar fashion on Thursday, ending that game on a 19-7 run for a 75-71 win.
By beating UCSD and CSUN in their final two games, the Titans (17-15 overall, 12-8 Big West) earned a pair of head-to-head sweeps that vaulted them over both teams in a three-team tiebreaker to decide the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. That comes with a bye into the quarterfinals of the eight-team event that begins Wednesday in Henderson, Nevada.
Williams shot 9 for 17 from the field (5 for 13 from 3-point range) to go with six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Garris shot 6 for 9 overall and 4 for 7 from deep to go with four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Bailey Nunn added 11 points, five rebounds and four steals, while Jaden Henderson contributed 10 points and four assists.
Fullerton trailed for a good portion of the game, but the Titans stayed committed to their long-range attack, hoisting 47 of their 67 total shot attempts from behind the arc. They outscored CSUN by 30 points from 3-point range and had a 30-8 advantage in points off turnovers, collecting 13 steals while feasting on 20 Matador turnovers.
Josiah Davis had 21 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds for Northridge (19-13, 12-8), which will be the No. 4 seed next week by virtue of its own sweep of UCSD. Larry Hughes Jr. had 21 points and three steals, while Josh O’Garro added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Fullerton was behind for all but 28 seconds in a competitive first half, but Garris hit a 3-pointer with one second left to give the visitors a 39-36 lead at the break.
The teams traded the lead 10 times in the second half. The Titans used an 8-2 run to pull ahead 68-60 with 11 minutes to play, but CSUN countered with a 13-5 surge to knot the score at 73-all. Davis made a pair of free throws to give the Matadors a 77-75 lead with 4:17 to play, but the hosts never scored again.
Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro quickly hit a 3-pointer to give Fullerton the lead, and Williams added one of his own 20 seconds later. Kendrick De Luna scored a second-chance layup off his own miss for an 82-77 lead with 2:50 left, and Williams added another 3-pointer. A pair of Nunn free throws gave the Titans a 10-point lead with 2:07 remaining, while the Matadors kept missing shots at the other end.
Williams made the Titans’ 18th 3-pointer with 1:16 left to punctuate the scoring and spoil CSUN’s Senior Night festivities in shocking fashion. When it was over, the Matadors had missed their last 11 shots from the field and did not make a field goal over the final 7:59.
“They made shots. We didn’t make shots,” CSUN coach Andy Newman said. “We’re having a hard time defending in the second half. We turned the ball over. We’re kind of out of sync right now, and a tough place to be going into the tournament. We need to play better basketball.”
CSUN shot 37.7% overall and just 8 for 32 from behind the arc but went 23 for 28 at the free-throw line (82%).
Fullerton shot 44.8% overall and 12 for 19 at the foul line while being outrebounded 46-35.
FINAL BIG WEST STANDINGS
Through Saturday, March 7
Team – Overall, Big West
UC Irvine – 22-10, 15-5
Hawaii – 22-8, 14-6
UC San Diego – 22-10, 12-8
Cal State Northridge – 19-13, 12-8
Cal State Fullerton – 17-15, 12-8
UC Santa Barbara – 18-13, 11-9
UC Davis – 18-13, 11-9
Cal Poly (SLO) – 14-18, 10-10
Long Beach State – 10-22, 6-14
UC Riverside – 10-22, 5-15
Cal State Bakersfield – 8-24, 2-18