3-Game Homestand Begins with Bakersfield :: Fullerton 2-0 in Historic Titan Gym This Season

Dec. 11, 2008

Fullerton, Calif. -

UPCOMING:
Sat., Dec. 13 -- Cal State Bakersfield, Titan Gym, 6:05 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 22 -- Montana State, Titan Gym, 7:05 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 29 -- Cal State Northridge, Titan Gym, 7:05 p.m.

IN A NUTSHELL: The Titans (4-6) play their third home game of the year Saturday night to start a 3-game homestand interrupted by a week off for final exams. Fullerton has been hit by injuries of late, playing without forward Gerard Anderson (ankle) for the last 79 minutes in a win over Central Michigan and a come-from-ahead loss at Montana State. Point guard Jacques Streeter also was slowed by an ankle problem in those games and a couple of other players are at less than full speed.

AUDIO: All Titan games can be heard live on the internet on computers with sound cards. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.fullertontitans.com and follow the links. Mike Martinez will call the next three games.

VIDEO: All Titan home games and road Big West Conference games are available via videostreaming on a subscription basis. Details are available on the Big West website at www.bigwest.org.

PROBABLE STARTERS:
No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg r/apg Quick Notes
G 1 Josh Akognon* 6-1 Sr. 23.9 2.0a Streak of 20-point games ended at 8 at MSU; only 6-for-23 from floor for 18
G 22 Jacques Streeter 6-0 Fr. 8.4 4.4a Missed Monday's practice with ankle injured in CMU game
F 42 Papa Guisse 6-8 Jr. 5.5 5.4r 11 boards vs. Charlotte, 9 at LSU; 5 blocked shots vs. Saint Mary's & CMU
G 11 Marcio Lassiter* 6-2 Sr. 8.7 2.9r Second to Akognon with 13 3-point field goals
G 21 Chris Rhymes 6-4 Jr. 5.4 2.1r Scored 10 points in first half vs. Charlotte on 4-for-4 shooting
OFF THE BENCH:
G 0 Aaron Thompson 6-4 Jr. 9.2 3.9r Season-high 18 points to go with 6 steals at Montana State
F 43 Ray Miller 6-8 Jr. 4.7 4.1r Leads team with .588 field-goal percentage
G 14 Ameer Shamsud-din 6-2 Fr. 0.8 1.5a True freshman has 15 assists vs. 11 turnovers
C 55 Adam Thomas 7-2 Jr. 1.0 0.8r 4 points on 2-for-2 shooting at Montana State
F 5 Regan Andersen 6-7 Jr. 2.0 2.3r Well-traveled Milwaukee native; walk-on transfer from Oxnard College
G 44 Kwasi Mensah 6-3 Fr. 0.0 0.0a Walk-on from Rancho Cucamonga HS
DISABLED:
F 24 Gerard Anderson 6-6 Jr. 10.3 6.4r Sprained an ankle in first minute vs. Central Michigan
*letters earned

EASY FOR ME TO SAY: Josh ah-KOY-uhn • POP gee-SAY • Ameer shahm-suh-DEEN • zyah-KEESE Streeter • KWAH-zee Mensah • REE-guhn Andersen

SERIES HISTORY: The Titans lead the Roadrunners in the all-time series, 7-2, and 2-0 since CSUB's move to Div. I. Fullerton swept a pair of games last season, 92-75 in the season opener in Titan Gym and 84-80 in Bakersfield on March 4. Both of Bakersfield's wins came during the 1972-73 season.

ABOUT THE ROADRUNNERS: Cal State Bakersfield is 3-6 in its second season as a provisional Div. I program. The Roadrunners are coming off a 66-51 loss on Wednesday night at Fresno State. They are 1-2 vs. the Big West Conference, beating Cal State Northridge at home and losing at Pacific in overtime and by one point at UC Davis. Frontliners Trent Blakley and Santwon Latunde are the top scorers and rebounders.

THE COACH: Bob Burton is 96-66 in his sixth year at Cal State Fullerton and career. At .593, Burton is the winningest coach in Titan history. Alex Omalev, who passed away on Nov. 10 at the age of 88, has the most total victories (139-176) followed by George McQuarn (122-117). Bobby Dye is second in winning percentage at .583 (109-78).

FRIENDLY CONFINES: Under Bob Burton, the Titans are 50-18 (.735) in Historic Titan Gym including 2-0 this season. Fullerton's all-time Div. I Titan Gym record is 275-152 (.644). Fullerton also is 1-8 in regular season home games at the Anaheim Convention Center.

RARE LOSING STREAK: CSF's recent 3-game losing streak was its longest since a 3-gamer Jan. 19-25, 2006. Coach Burton also had a 3-game losing streak in `04-05 and two in `03-04, when he had an additional 4-game skid. Last year's team lost consecutive games only once.

LOSING BATTLE OF THE BOARDS: Not surprisingly, given the heights on the roster and the quality of the competition, rebounding has been a problem for the Titans in 2008-09... Although outrebounded by only about 3 per game, the Titans have had some glaring disparities and have given up 16 offensive rebounds per game... Two of the three worst rebounding disparities of the Bob Burton Era have occurred this season -- minus 29 (56 vs. 27) at LSU and minus 22 (54 vs. 32) vs. Saint Mary's... the other in that neighborhood was minus 23 (50 vs. 27) vs. Wisconsin in last year's NCAA Tournament... Saint Mary's grabbed 26 offensive rebounds and both LSU and Central Michigan got 20... only one other team (Cal State Northridge with 21 on Feb. 10, 2007) has collected 20 or more offensive rebounds against a Burton team at CSF.

PLAYER UPDATES:
Guard Josh Akognon saw his school-record string of consecutive 20-point games end at eight in an 18-point effort Tuesday night at Montana State, where he hit only 6 of 23 shots including 3 of 14 from the 3-point line for one of the poorest shooting nights of his career... It came on the heels of a solid all-around game vs. Central Michigan where he had a team-high 27 points, career-high 7 assists and tied for team high with 6 rebounds... Akognon made the all-tournament team in Hawai'i and was one vote shy of making the 6-man All-76 Classic squad in Anaheim... He is averaging 20.1 shots per game including 11.5 3-point tries... He set a Stan Sheriff Center record in Honolulu with 41 points in the win over Hawaii, making 12 of 29 shots including 7 of 18 3-pointers... It was the second highest scoring game in CSF's Div. I history (Bobby Brown, currently of the Sacramento Kings, had 47 vs. Bethune Cookman on Dec. 16, 2006)... In 42 career games, Akognon already has moved into the No. 4 spot on the CSF career 3-point field goal list with 155 (Chris St. Clair is No. 3 at 185)... He's also No. 4 in attempts with 410 (St. Clair is No. 3 with 511)... Akognon is a nominee for the Bob Cousy Award to the nation's top point guard.

Forward Gerard Anderson missed the Montana State game and remains sidelined... Thanks in great part to playing only one minute before spraining his ankle vs. Central Michigan, he has averaged only 5.0 points over his last 4 games after averaging 14.2 over his first five... He scored the Titans' first point of the season (3:27 into the Texas State game) but didn't score again until the second half, when he erupted for 14 points in a span of less than 5 minutes on his way to a 20-point half... At Portland State he had 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds but missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer... He had 10 rebounds in the first half and 12 total against a Wake Forest team that started three players 6-foot-9 or better.

Point guard Jacques Streeter has been slowed by an ankle injured in the second half vs. Central Michigan... He has handled the ball extremely well for a freshman with only 26 turnovers vs. 44 assists and has been among the Big West leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio... He has shown the potential for a triple double -- scoring in double figures 5 times, getting 12 assists in one game and grabbing as many as 9 rebounds.

Guard Aaron Thompson has proven to be an explosive offensive player... He's coming off a season-high 18-point effort at Montana State where he went 7-for-10 from the floor... He's also been clutch... At Portland State he went 4-for-4 at the line in the final 3 minutes and gave Fullerton a 1-point lead with 21.4 seconds to play... His basket put Fullerton ahead to stay at 77-75 in overtime vs. Charlotte... He did miss a potential game winner with about 30 seconds to go in regulation vs. Charlotte.

Guard Marcio Lassiter made a quick return from a knee that was bruised severely on Nov. 22 in Portland, causing him to miss the Portland State game and the first half vs. Wake Forest... He got 8 points in the second half vs. the Deamon Deacons and totaled a combined 20 vs. Saint Mary's and Charlotte back in a starting role... He matched his career high by making three treys vs. Charlotte, in only three tries including a back-breaker in overtime... He missed the first free throw of his CAREER in the second half vs. Central Michigan, snapping a string of 28 in a row including all 18 last season... He has a current streak of three in a row... He also limped through the second half vs. CMU after landing on his back when undercut going for a loose ball.

Forward Chris Rhymes made a delayed debut on Nov. 20 vs. Hope, finally cleared after rehabbing since his March knee surgery... He scored 12 points in 17 minutes... He is still rounding into shape but was a catalyst vs. Charlotte, coming off the bench to hit 4-of-4 shots including a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-point first-half effort that rallied Fullerton from an early 8-point deficit... He played a season high of 22 minutes vs. CMU after Gerard Anderson's early departure and took over his starting role in Bozeman.

Forward Papa Guisse had his best game of the young season vs. Charlotte with 8 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes of play... He blocked 5 shots vs. Saint Mary's and also vs. Central Michigan and on the season has more than half (20 of 36) of the team's total of rejections to lead the Big West... He grabbed 8 rebounds at LSU.

TITANS REGULARS ON THE TUBE: The Titans' game at LSU on Dec. 2 was carried by FOX Sports South out of Atlanta, making it one of nine CSF games of this season to be televised. The others: at Hawai'i (KFVE Honolulu), all 3 games at the 76 Classic Nov. 27-30 on ESPN2 or ESPNU; Jan. 8 at Cal Poly on ESPNU; Jan. 10 at UCSB on FSN Prime Ticket; Jan. 17 vs. Pacific on ESN2; Mar. 7 vs. UC Irvine on FSN West. Additional possibilities are the ESPNU Bracket Buster the weekend of Feb. 21 and the Big West Conference post-season tourney. Fullerton had been on national TV only a handful of times prior to the last few seasons.