San Jose Beats Titans in 4 Overtimes, 97-92

Cal State Fullerton, the team that could have had eight more wins last season if it scored 12 more points at the right time, lost another one of those heart-breakers Thursday night.

The Titans came from behind to send the game into three overtimes before losing in the fourth, 97-92, to San Jose State in Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. action in front of 2,140 at Titan Gym.

Fullerton lost a four-overtime affair last year to Cal State Long Beach, but the Titans will look back to this one when it’s time to tell sob stories to their grandchildren. This was a game--that by all rights--they should have won.

Midway through the second half, Fullerton guard Kevin Henderson hit a jumper from well beyond the three-point line (he even came down about a foot outside the line) and although Fullerton Coach George McQuarn almost ran on the court and tackled the nearest official, it was ruled a two-pointer.

That, however, was not the official ruling the left the Titans shaking their heads and their fans shaking their fists.

With 56 seconds remaining in the fourth overtime and San Jose State leading, 91-89, three Titans trapped San Jose State’s Ontario Johnson in the corner. The 45-second clock expired and the buzzer sounded before he could get off a shot, but he threw up an air-ball that the Spartans’ Matt Fleming grabbed and put in.

Fullerton’s videotape of the game clearly shows the clock ran out before Johnson’s shot.

This time, McQuarn did stop referee Tom Fincken as he came down court.

The officials stopped play and questioned Fullerton student John Repka, who was running the 45-second clock. “I told them it had gone off before the shot,” Repka said.

An amazingly calm, but obviously disgusted McQuarn had few words afterward.

“I can’t say what I want to say,” McQuarn said, “so I’ve got no comment. As to the rest of the game, I’d say that’s irrelevant now.”

Fincken defended his decision.

“I called time when George stopped me, and I asked both of my partners if they had heard the 45-second horn,” Fincken said. “Both of them said, ‘No.’

“Then I asked the kid (Repka) and he said in his opinion it (the shot) was after the clock ran out. But I had to take into consideration what school he was from and where he was sitting, so we counted the shot.”

For a game that started out as ragged and sloppy as Division 1 basketball gets (San Jose had 15 first-half turnovers), it turned into quite a drama.

Tony Neal, Fullerton’s leading scorer who was held to 14 points in regulation, rebounded with an array of twisting fallaway jumpers for 10 points in the first two overtimes as the Titans rallied from four-point deficits both times to extend the game. Neal finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds.

Henderson, who was playing his second game at point guard after starting most of the season at the shooting guard position, scored 29 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the second and third overtimes, both of which tied the score.

And talk about intensity. San Jose State Coach Bill Berry was so involved in the game that he screamed, “You wimp,” at his own center (Fleming) after he was called for an offensive foul while driving to the basket.

It was just that kind of game.

Neal’s turnaround jumper with 14 seconds left in regulation tied the game, 61-61, and Johnson missed a 17-footer at the buzzer.

Neal made the same shot with 22 seconds left in the first overtime, and the Spartans’ George Puou missed a 16-footer at the buzzer.

Henderson’s three-pointer tied the score at 78-78 and Johnson missed a 15-footer at the end of the second overtime.

Johnson’s layup made it 85-85 with 12 seconds left in the third overtime before Neal missed a turnaround at the end of overtime No. 3.

And the fourth overtime will be forever etched in the mind of McQuarn.