Jan. 4, 2008

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - Josh Akognon scored 22 points, Frank Robinson added 17 and Marcus Crenshaw came off the bench for 16 Friday night to lead Cal State Fullerton to a 93-83 victory over UC Irvine in the schools' Big West Conference opener Friday night.

Patrick Sanders had 27 points and 7 rebounds and Darren Fells had 16 points and a team-high 8 rebounds to lead the Anteaters, who fell to 5-9 overall. Fullerton is now 8-4.

Robinson led the Titans with 10 rebounds for a double-double as Fullerton used a 13-3 run to take control of the game at 62-52 with 13:08 to play. UCI got as close as 5 points at 62-57 but the Titans gradually pulled away to their biggest lead at 84-69 with 3:21 to play on an Akognon jumper.

Perimeter players scored all but 24 of the Fullerton points while UCI got only 29 from its perimeter players. Both teams were hot from the 3-point line with Fullerton hitting 13 of 21 for 62 percent and UCI nailing 10 of 19 for 53 percent. Brett Lauer hit 4 of 8 in the second half for UCI while Crenshaw made 4 of 5 to lead the Titans, who shot 62 percent overall from the floor, their highest single-game mark in four years.

The Titans built a first-half lead to 10 points at 22-12 8 minutes into the game. UCI caught up at 32-32 with 4:29 to go on a 3-point play by Kevin Bland. But the Titans scored the next 6 points and took a 7-point lead into the locker room.

Fullerton travels to UC Riverside on Monday night while UC Irvine hosts UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night.