Fullerton Deals Pepperdine First Defeat

Not even another injury to Ike Harmon could stop Cal State Fullerton against Pepperdine Saturday night in Titan Gym.

The Titans showed they could stand on their own feet without him.

Harmon reinjured the ankle he sprained two weeks ago and sat out nearly all of the second half, but Fullerton went on to hand Pepperdine its first loss of the season in six games, 78-68.

Sophomore center Matt Caldwell led the way with 15 points in the second half on a night when he scored a career-high 22, and the Waves struggled with Fullerton’s inside game. Harmon scored 14 points in the first half before he fell to floor in pain with slightly more than a minute left in the first half.

“Anytime you take out your leading scorer and one of your best players and still get the win, it takes a good effort, and we got that,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said.

Guards Kenroy Jarrett and Mark Murphy each scored 11, and the Titans (2-1) shot 51.9% from the field. Murphy made three of four three-point shots.

“I was almost crying when Ike hurt his ankle again,” Jarrett said. “But I think all of us decided then that we were going to win this game without him.”

The Titans turned in a solid effort on defense, mixing zone and man-to-man, and Pepperdine shot only 38.1%. The Waves were seven of 21 from three-point range. Marc McDowell’s 12 points led Pepperdine, though five other Wave players scored 10. Guard Jelani Gardner was held to 10, making only four of 15 shots.

Hawking gave Jarrett, a 5-foot-11 junior point guard, credit for his defense on Gardner.

“Jelani had to work for everything he got,” Hawking said. “And Kenroy did a lot of it. And what does Kenroy give up in height to him? Six or seven inches?”

Jarrett said Gardner just had an off-night.

“He’s a good athlete, and the shots were there, he just didn’t make them this time,” Jarrett said.

The Titans had a 38-34 rebounding advantage.

“We felt we had to do that to stay with them,” Hawking said.

Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar gave Fullerton credit for a strong performance, but was disappointed with his team’s play on defense.

“We’ve been surviving off our defense, but tonight we didn’t take care of that end of it,” Romar said. “But Fullerton did a fine job on their half-court execution. Most teams have been slowing it down on us, but I think that’s been to our advantage. We expected Fullerton to play more up-tempo and they did.”