Santa Barbara’s Size Overwhelms Titans : College basketball: Gauchos also control tempo to defeat cold-shooting Fullerton, 76-55.

GOLETA —  Cal State Fullerton was the victim of another inside job Thursday night. UC Santa Barbara, with its superior size and depth on the front line, whipped the Titans, 76-55, in a Big West Conference game played before 3,438 in the Events Center.

The Gauchos controlled the tempo for much of the game and complemented their half-court offense with an effective fast break to improve to 9-7, 4-4 in conference.

Lucius Davis scored 19 points, Gary Gray had 17 points and six rebounds, Michael Meyer scored 13 off the bench and point guard Ray Kelly had nine assists and seven rebounds for Santa Barbara, which made 27 of 46 shots (58.7%) in the game.

Joe Small scored 15 points and Wayne Williams added 14 for Fullerton, which shot only 36.5% (19 of 52) and fell to 11-7, 4-5.

For the second consecutive game, a lack of inside depth hurt the Titans, who were without starting center Aaron Wilhite. Wilhite has a knee injury that will sideline him for at least another week or so.

Santa Barbara, with the 6-foot-9 Gray, the 6-7 Davis, 6-9 forward Bob Erbst (six rebounds) and 6-6 guard Paul Johnson (six rebounds), outrebounded Fullerton, 40-23. Cal State Long Beach out-rebounded the Titans, 51-28, in Tuesday’s 94-76 victory.

Fullerton center Agee Ward, in foul trouble for much of the second half, was limited to 29 minutes and scored only six points before fouling out with 4:39 left.

Starting forward Kevin Ahsmuhs, who had his best game of the season in last Saturday’s upset of New Mexico State, scored only two points and had three rebounds in 24 minutes.

The Titans relied on their outside shooting, and Williams, who had hit nine of his last 17 three-pointers entering the game, had a solid night, making three of five three-pointers. But Small took only 12 shots--four below his average--and made five, and small forward Bruce Bowen went three for nine from the field.

“Our lack of front-line players was very evident tonight, from a rebounding and offensive standpoint,” Titan Coach John Sneed said. “Ward was our only threat inside and he had a bad night, so we didn’t get anything in the paint.”

The game was delayed for about five minutes in the first half after a bomb threat that proved to be a hoax.

The Gauchos had scored four consecutive points to take a 16-9 lead with 12 minutes 7 seconds left in the first half when the threat was announced. When play resumed, Santa Barbara maintained the momentum, scoring the next five points to make it 21-9.

“It was kind of scary when you thought about it, but it wasn’t a factor in the game at all,” Gaucho Coach Jerry Pimm said. “I told the players to sit, rest and concentrate on what they were doing. We played real well after that.”

The break didn’t help the Titans, who were mired in a 4:21 scoring drought that finally ended on Bruce Bowen’s driving layup that made it 21-11 with 9:49 left in the first half.

Santa Barbara extended its lead to 31-15, but Fullerton went to a half-court, trapping defense that sparked a 9-0 run that helped cut Santa Barbara’s halftime lead to 33-24.

Fullerton pulled to within five points twice in the second half, the last time on Williams’ three-pointer with 9:06 left that made it 50-45.

The Titans twice had chances to cut the deficit to three, but Ward missed two free throws and then the front end of a one-and-one situation. Fullerton made only four of nine free throws in the final 8:13.

From that point, the Gauchos took control, outscoring the Titans, 26-10, the rest of the way. Santa Barbara scored five fast-break baskets in the final 6:30, and the Gaucho reserves even outscored the Titan starters, 6-2, in the final minute.

“I thought we did a good job getting back into the game and cutting to five, but then we missed some free throws,” Sneed said. “With two minutes left, we gambled and let the gap get away.

“Our trapping defense was successful, but that takes up a lot of energy and we can’t do that for too long with our depth.”