FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's basketball picked up its first win of the season with a 62-61 victory over Idaho State in its home opener Monday night at Titan Gym. With the win the Titans are now 1-4 on the season.Â
Head Coach Dedrique Taylor becomes the winningest coach in program history following Monday night's win. Taylor surpasses Bob Burton with 156 wins in his career at Fullerton.
"It means a lot in terms of just who our program is and what we've been doing the past 11 years. It says a lot for our kids. It says a lot for our young men. It says a lot for our coaches," Taylor said. "It's a hell of a feat to be able to accomplish what we've been able to in the amount of time we've been here.Â
Taylor adds to his long list of accomplishments as a Titan as he is the only coach in program history to take the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his tenure. He is also the first coach in program history to have at least two 20+ win seasons (3), as well as the first to have 10+ conference wins at least four different seasons (5).Â
The Titans and the Bengals found themselves in a back-and-forth affair in the first half. Both teams held four point leads throughout the half.
Idaho State struggled from the field in the first half thanks to Fullerton's defense, only shooting 35 percent. On the other end, Fullerton shot an impressive 57 percent from the floor. However, the Titans trailed 32-31 at halftime as a result of giving up 11 offensive rebounds to Idaho State.
John Mikey Square and Donovan Oday led the Titans in scoring at halftime with 10 points each.Â
Fullerton took the lead five minutes into the second half on a turnover which led to a fastbreak dunk by Davis Bynum.Â
The freshman had another eye-opening game, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-4 from distance. Bynum was key for Fullerton in the second half, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the final 20 minutes.Â
Down the stretch, the Titans' defense intensified, holding Idaho State scoreless from the field for over seven minutes.Â
With 48 seconds remaining in the game, Kaleb Brown found the loose ball on the Titans' end of the court and finished for an and-one to put the team up 60-52.Â
Idaho State made the game interesting in the final 38 seconds, going on a 9-2 run. The Bengals had an inbound pass with just 0.2 seconds remaining following a turnover. However, the Titans were able to hang on for the 62-61 win.Â
Square led the team in scoring with a tied for game-high 17 points while adding five rebounds.Â
Oday matched his career-high of 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range while grabbing a team-high seven boards.Â
Fullerton heads back on the road Friday to take on UCLA at Pauley Pavillion. Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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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.Â
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Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
