FULLERTON, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team took on a tough Division I Cal State Fullerton squad in an exhibition match-up Friday night and handed the Titans a scare on the road falling 93-78.
The Maroon and Grey currently sit 5-3, 1-0 SCIAC, while Cal State Fullerton improved to 6-5. Four Bulldogs recorded double figures led by Colin McCarthy (Redwood City, CA) and Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) who both came off the bench to add 18 points each. Darne Duckett (Oakland, CA) chipped in with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) added 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
It was a strong start for the U of R in the first half putting up 33 points to stay within single digits of CSF at the break. Power put up 10 of his 18 points during the half, six coming from deep, while Jackson played big minutes inside adding another seven. Neil Owens (Pasadena, CA) gave UR a lead early with a three-pointer, but it was all Titans after that as they put together a 15-2 run that moved the score to 17-5. But Redlands wouldn't go down without a fight and would get a spark late in the period with Power putting up a three-pointer and converting a layup inside, Josh Himel (Jacksonville, FL) knocking down a three-pointer, and Duckett ending the 10-2 run with a jumper.
This pulled UR within four at 29-25 and Jackson took over after that knocking down a jumper and a free throw to make it a seven point-game heading into intermission.
A pair of dunks out of the break from Vincent Lee for CSF gave the Titans some momentum, which they would use to open the lead up to 18. The Bulldogs though were able to keep their offense going adding another 45 points in the period, shooting 48% from the field, a stellar 57% mark from deep and going 11-for-15 from the charity stripe. McCarthy led the second half surge knocking down six triples and all 18 of his points across the final 20:00 minutes. Despite the strong performance on the offensive side, there was no answer defensively for the high-powered Titan offense that finished the game off with 53 points in the second half en route to the victory.
Redlands shot 43.1% from the field, which included a red hot 40.7% mark from three-point territory along with shooting 73.9% from the free-throw line. Inside they hauled in 30 rebounds, added 24 points in the paint, 10-second chance points and outscored the Titans 46-18 from the bench.
Redlands returns to the court after the Holidays on December 28-29 when they take part in the Kingsmen Classic hosted by Cal Lutheran University. They begin the tournament with a matchup against Benedictine (Ill.) (Dec. 28) before taking on Northwestern (MN) (Dec. 29). Both games will take place at 4:00pm.