Long Beach, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton Titans completed their first series sweep of the season over Big West rival, Long Beach State on Thursday. In a close battle between both teams, Fullerton came out on top with an 86-82 victory over the Beach, completing the sweep and going on a three-game win streak.
 
In the first half, the Titans were outscored, 41-48 in a tight game with the Beach. Long Beach tallied a quick 7-0 lead before Bryce Cofield found the rim after four minutes. The Titans and Beach played back and forth, but LBSU went on longer scoring runs, taking an eventual 12-point lead with under two minutes left in the half. Joshua Ward and Christian Williams nabbed two late layups before Jaden Henderson laid one in the hoop at the sound of the buzzer. The Titans trailed by seven going into halftime.
 
Fullerton logged a 48% field goal percentage in the first half and shot 83% from the charity stripe. Both CSF and LBSU tallied five turnovers in the first half, but the Titans capitalized on those and posted 10 points from Long Beach's turnovers while the Beach only tallied two points from turnovers. Ward and Bryce Cofield led the team with nine points each in the first half.
 
In the second half, the Titans posted 45 points compared to Long Beach's 34 in what was a tight back and forth half. Fullerton shot 47% from the field and 75% at the free throw line. CSF capitalized on turnovers once again, logging 13 points on another 10 turnovers. Long Beach only forced five turnovers on the Titans and tallied just four points. Ward led the team again with 13 points in the second half.
 
CSF and LBSU switched leads nine different times and tied the game six times in the second half. The Titans fought back in the first four minutes, and a free-throw from Landon Seaman gave Fullerton their first lead of the game. LBSU took it back, but Seaman put the Titans on top once again. The Beach found their rhythm and took a six-point lead before the Titans tied the game at 67 and took their third lead. CSF went on a long run, taking their highest lead of the game by six with a little over four minutes to go.
 
From the 3:30 mark until the end of the game, the two rivals had their fans on the edges of their seats. A minute of back-and-forth scoring led to a Long Beach foul at 16 seconds. Ward made both of his free throws before getting a shot at another set at the 3 second mark and making both of those to seal the game. The Titans ran away with an 86-82 victory, taking down their rival twice now, this season.
 
Overall, the Titans bench outscored LBSU 37-26. Fullerton shot a 46% field goal percentage on Thursday. CSF logged a 34% three-point percentage and 81% from the charity stripe.
 
Ward led the team with 22 points and seven assists, while shooting a perfect seven for seven at the free throw line. He also had five rebounds and two steals. Cofield, Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro and Williams each logged double digits in Long Beach.
 
The Titans gear up for another big game on the road this Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. at UC Irvine.
 
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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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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.