Nov. 5, 2008

Fullerton, Calif. - The 2008-09 version of Cal State Fullerton men's basketball makes its final tuneup for the new season when the Titans play an exhibition game against Carroll College on Thursday night in Titan Gym. There will be no admission charge.

Fullerton opens the regular season in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Verizon Wireless Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 14 vs. Texas State.

Carroll is an NAIA institution located in Helena, Montana, and plays in the Frontier Conference. The Fighting Saints were 23-9 last year and won their conference championship with a 10-4 record for Coach Gary Turcott, who is 356-216 going into his 19th season on the 1,400 student campus.

Carroll is 2-0 and coming off a 58-56 victory at Eastern Washington on Saturday night. EWU was playing without three key players and couldn't overcome 21 percent shooting and a nearly nine-minute scoreless drought in the first half.

The Eagles rallied from a 19-point deficit to pull within one in the closing seconds, but EWU's Milan Stanojevic missed a three-pointer at the buzzer. Carroll opened its season with an 83-76 victory over the University of Regina on Oct. 23.

Fullerton was projected as the fourth-place finisher in the Big West in 2008-09 by both the coaches and the media at the annual Media Day event last week.