FULLERTON, Calif . - The Cal State Fullerton Titans men's water polo program concluded their regular season with a 15-7 loss at home against the No. 7 California Baptist University Lancers.
The Titans shot a poor 23.3% from the field and were 7-for-30 while the Lancers shot a highly efficient 46.9% (15-for-32) from the floor. The Titans were led by
Togan Ozbek who had four points off two goals and two assists.
Bende Aubeli,
Julian Nichols,
Zack Ewing,
Jacob Hatch, and
Francisco Paredes all scored one goal as well for the Titans.
Garrett Henderson made nine saves in the cage for the Titans in his final game at the Titan Aquatics Center.
The Titans started the game on top after
Togan Ozbek opened the scoring with 7:11 in the first quarter.
CBU then scored the next seven goals and the Titans didn't get on the board again until 2:42 in the second quarter when
Bende Aubeli scored for the Titans.
Jacob Hatch scored with three seconds left in the quarter to make it an 8-3 game at halftime.
The Titans played their best water polo of the night in the third quarter as they outscored the Lancers 2-to-1 for the period.
Togan Ozbek added his second goal and
Julian Nichols scored his 99th goal of his career on a 5-meter penalty before the period ended to make it a 9-5 game.
However just as the Titans got some momentum, the Lancers scored three times to start the fourth quarter and retake a 12-5 lead.
Francisco Paredes got one goal back before the Lancers scored three more times in the period.
Zack Ewing added a final consolation goal for the Titans in his final game at the Titans Aquatic Center with 1:47 left in the game
Before the game, the Titans honored their inaugural senior class which featured 14 players.
Bende Aubeli,
Alec Isaacman,
Julian Nichols,
Zack Ewing,
Dominic Hernandez,
Nico D'Angelo,
Togan Ozbek,
Aaron Ayala,
Shelby Johnson,
Will Johnson,
Bradley Pearce,
Reese Starkey,
Garrett Henderson, and
Seth Zarn.
The Titans will be the No. 6 seed in the Big West Water Polo Championships at UC Davis beginning the following weekend on November 22nd. The Titans will take on the hosts and No. 3 UC Davis in the first round of the tournament.
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Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitansTickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.
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