FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans were back in action Thursday night to take on the UC Irvine Anteaters at Titan Gym. The Titans came into this matchup with an overall record of 6-23, while the Anteaters are sitting in second place in The Big West and looking to gain ground on UC San Diego heading into the final week of the regular season. 

The Titans struggled to convert buckets from the field in their 76-51 loss to UC Irvine Thursday night, however, they came out focused on the defensive end as the first possession of the game resulted in a forced airball 3-pointer from UC Irvine. Donovan Oday capitalized on the other end by knocking down an open twelve-footer to give the Titans their only lead of the game. 

From that point, UCI managed to take control of the pace and forced the Titans into multiple contested shots. The poor shooting from Fullerton allowed the Anteaters to go on a 17-2 run that lasted 6:33 before Keith Richard stopped the bleeding with an open 3-pointer from the corner.

Although the Titans went into the half shooting 26 percent from the field and trailing 43-23, Fullerton was active on the defensive end causing four first half turnovers. 

During the halftime intermission, the National Championship Cal State Fullerton Dance Team performed their winning routine for the Titan crowd. The ladies performance blew the audience away as the crowd of over 1,000 people saluted the young women with a standing ovation as they concluded their performance.

The Titans rode the defensive momentum into the second half, forcing three early turnovers in the opening 3:15 seconds which helped manufacture a 6-0 run that saw De Luna, Oday, and Robinson scoring in a variety of ways to chip away at the 43-29 lead with 16:41 remaining in the game.

The Anteaters would not let the Titans get within arm's distance again. Irvine went on a 17-5 run in a span of 4:37 to extend their lead to 60-34.

The Titans lost their penultimate home game of the season 76-51 to drop them to 1-16 in conference play and 6-24 overall. 

De Luna led the way in scoring for Fullerton with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting. 

Kaleb Brown finished the night as the leading rebounder with 12 boards and also contributed three points.

Oday rounded out the top performers for Fullerton with eight points, two rebounds, and two assists. 

The Titans are back in action Saturday at UCSD at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streaming live on ESPN+.

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WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
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.