FULLERTON, Calif. –  On a rainy Saturday evening the Occidental College men's basketball squad traveled to Orange County where they faced off with the Division I Cal State University Fullerton Titans to cap off first semester of school. In the first half the tenacious Tigers played with their claws out, trailing just 29-24 at the intermission, but the Titans were too much for the Black and Orange who ultimately fell by a final of 76-48.

"After a tough week of finals I could not be happier with the way we played in the first half," Head Coach Brian Newhall said following the game. "We played solid on both ends of the court; we battled hard and caused them some problems with our offensive execution."

Occidental jumped out to an early lead behind a Kris Montoya three-pointer, which got all scoring started. The Tigers took a 9-4 advantage with 12:21 in the first half and led 15-14 with just under eight and a half minutes to play in the opening stanza. The Titans answered with an 8-2 run, building up their own five point advantage at the 3:49 mark. Deshun McCoy capped off a three-point play with a free-throw with 1:49 to pull the Black and Orange within three, 24-21, after driving through traffic to score two of the six Oxy points in the paint tonight, drawing the foul. Montoya got things started and then closed things out in the first period of play with a three pointer just seconds before the buzzer sounded at the mid-way point.

The Tigers shot 46 percent from the field in the first half but slowed down in the second as the Titans heated up. Oxy shot just 38 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes while CSUF shot at a blazing 67 percent clip to finish the game at 58 percent.

"Bob Burton coached teams always play hard," Newhall noted. "They came out in the second half with a great deal of intensity and we were unable to match it."

Five minutes out of the locker rooms, Montoya hit another of his four three-pointers to again pull the Tigers within five at 38-33. CSU Fullerton then went on an 11-0 run to take control of the contest and Occidental was never able to find a groove on the court.

"It was a great experience for us to play another Division I team," sophomore Nick Robinson said after the game. "We came out competitive and were able to run our offense well and play pretty good defense, but we fell apart mentally in the second half and they went on that run to open up the game."

Occidental grabbed eight offensive rebounds to the Titans' seven, and each team scored six second-chance points. CSUF, however, pulled down just three more overall rebounds than the Tiger with 24. McCoy was tied for the lead [with Orane Chin] with six and led the Tigers' squad while Jake Copithorne finished with five.

Offensively, McCoy scored 17 on 8-for-12 shooting followed by Montoya who finished with 14. The only points that came off the bench tonight were a pair from Ty Cobb. Sam Stapleton finished with a team-leading five assists and came up with two of the three Oxy steals as well. Copithorne, McCoy and Robinson combined to go 8-for-10 from the charity stripe.

"McCoy (11 points, two rebounds and an assist) played his best half of the season tonight in the first 20 minutes," Newhall went on, "But he ran out of gas in the second half."

After a solid start, the Tigers had trouble taking care of the basketball in the second half, committing 18 total turnovers, which led to 22 Titans' points. The Division I group showed their size, scoring 32 of their points in the paint.

Jer'Vaughn Johnson led all players with 18 points and Perry Webster tallied 17, going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line for CSUF.

Tonight was the second Division I opponent that Occidental played this season, but the pace of the game was entirely different.

Although both Division I teams the Tigers have played this season were  pretty equal, the Black and Orange came out with a little bit more energy tonight. The time between the season opening Exhibition at the University of San Diego and today has allowed the Tigers to become a more cohesive unit and were more comfortable running their offense.

With a game on Dec. 31 at San Diego State, the Tigers will have another opportunity to face a Division I opponent in 2010 leading up to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

"We will play some tough SCIAC games this season and tonight was a good test for us as we get closer to league play," Robinson concluded.

Overall, Newhall was pleased with the performance put forth tonight.

"We have a lot of young guys running around out there. They made it through their first semester of college and are going to use this break to rejuvenate themselves. Everyone is excited to get back to work on December 26."  

Occidental (4-2) will return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Dec. 29 when they host Pacifica College at 7:00 p.m. in Rush Gymnasium.

Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director