Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score

Riverside, Calif. - Jamaal Brown scored 16-second half points for a total of 18 and Bobby Brown and Justin Burns each scored 17 Saturday afternoon as Cal State Fullerton won a Big West Conference road game at UC Riverside, 90-79.

The win improved the Titans' record to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big West while UCR fell to 2-13 and 2-3.

Rickey Porter had 21 points and Dedrick Bates had a career-high 20 for the Highlanders, who also got 16 points and 8 rebounds from center David Misko.

Fullerton shot 58 percent from the floor in the second half as it preserved an 11-point halftime lead with Jamaal Brown getting free for seven close-in field goals. The Titans shot 54 percent for the game to 44 percent for UCR, which wasted an early 11-3 lead.

Vershan Cottrell, who had career-highs of 8 rebounds and 6 assists, scored 12 first-half points as Fullerton outscored UCR 43-24 in the final 16 minutes of the half.

"It was a great road win," said Fullerton Coach Bob Burton. "The game was indicative of our season - at times we played really good and at times we played really bad. We are striving for consistency. We're just looking forward to a home game.

"Vershan played real hard for us... and he was guarding their best perimeter players. Curtis Battles gave us some good minutes, too."

Fullerton scored the first 5 points of the second half for a 16-point lead and they got it up to 18 at 66-48 with 13:21 to play after a Burns layup. But UCR went on a 14-4 to get as close as 8 points at 70-62 with 8:46 remaining. Fullerton later used an 8-0 run to turn a 75-67 lead into a comfortable 83-69 margin.

Fullerton is home next week to Long Beach State and UC Irvine while UCR plays the same teams in reverse order. Fullerton has played only 4 of its 14 games at home.