Fullerton Leaves Aggies Looking for Anonymity

Cal State Fullerton blitzed New Mexico State, 84-53, at Titan Gym Wednesday night, but to know just how badly the Titans beat the Aggies is to know Kenny Spears.

Spears is a basketball player at Fullerton--or so the rumor goes. Don’t look for him in the Titans’ media guide. He isn’t listed.

Don’t ask about his background. “I don’t even know where he’s from,” said Mel Franks, who, as the Fullerton sports information director, usually knows about such things.

Don’t bother asking about him, period. One sportswriter did, putting the question to Titan Coach George McQuarn:

“Who’s Kenny Spears?”

McQuarn: “Who?”

You want anonymity defined? There you have it.

Actually, Kenny Spears is a freshman guard from San Gorgonio High School, a walk-on who has practiced with the Titans from Day One but, only through player attrition, began suiting up for games last week.

So, how does Spears figure in this story? Well, for one minute Wednesday night, Spears accomplished the unimaginable.

He played.

And that, as much as anything else, sums up the way things went for the streaking Titans and the staggering Aggies.

Fullerton (6-3 in the PCAA, 10-8 overall) has never defeated a conference opponent so soundly. Ever. The Titans’ 31-point margin was Fullerton’s largest ever against a PCAA foe.

En route, Fullerton:

--Shot 56% (34 of 61) from the field while restricting New Mexico State to 34%--and just 25% in the second half.

--Outrebounded the Aggies, 44-32, for the game and 30-16 for the second half.

--Put the clamp down on New Mexico State’s prolific three-point jump-shot assault, which produced PCAA records for most three-point attempts (30) and conversions (12) Saturday night against UC Irvine. Wednesday night against Fullerton, the Aggies’ long-range artists drew a big zero--as in zero-for-12.

All this came against a team that had defeated Fullerton, 70-63, Jan. 3 in Las Cruces.

“It’s incredible,” said Titan forward Tony Neal, who scored 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the rematch. “The way we played tonight, I don’t see how we lost to this team.”

By the time Round Two was over--and for all intents, this one was over early--Fullerton had won for the fifth time in its last six games, New Mexico State had suffered its the fifth straight loss, and everyone on the Titan roster got in some playing time.

Even Kenny Spears.

“This is probably the only opportunity he’ll get to play,” said McQuarn, who finally made the connection between the name and Fullerton jersey number 24. With the rout on, McQuarn looked at the scoreboard clock, saw a minute remaining and decided, what the heck, put in the kid. And the kid, in those 60 seconds, grabbed a pair of rebounds.

McQuarn smiled and joked, “Through our coaching, he’s evolved to the point where he can actually play.”

McQuarn smiled more than once Wednesday, a rarity in this season of ups and downs and close calls for Fullerton. Finally, midway through the conference season, McQuarn is liking what he’s seeing on the court.

“We’ve won five of our last six, and I saw some real good things in the second half,” McQuarn said. “From a pure offensive standpoint, that was our best half of the season. I hope we’re peaking. This is the right time for that.”

Early on, however, there were a few moments of anxiety for McQuarn. His team fell behind, 6-0, in the first two minutes and visions of Las Cruces began popping into his head.

“Wouldn’t you be concerned?” McQuarn said. “We’re down, 6-0, we’re flat, we’re playing with no emotion. We’ve been like penicillin--we have a way of getting other people well. Last time, they (the Aggies) had six losses in a row before they beat us.”

Not eager to see New Mexico’s current losing streak come to an end, McQuarn called timeout. “I got after them to play some defense,” he said. “I was raising some hell.”

After falling behind, 10-4, the Titans responded by scoring the next nine points, putting together a 21-6 spree.

Soon after, the game was out of reach.

Guard Kevin Henderson scored 19 points for Fullerton, with Richard Morton adding 10 points. New Mexico State (6-12, 3-6) received 16 points from Gilbert Wilburn and 14 from Andre Patterson.

Henderson also made two three-point shots, which was two more than the Aggie Air Corps could manage in this matchup of the mismatched.