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Cal State Fullerton men top UC Davis to reach Big West tourney semifinals

March 13, 2026

The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team is reaping the rewards of its strong finish to the regular season.

The Titans won their final two games against teams above them in the Big West standings, leapfrogging both to finish third and earn a bye into Thursday night’s conference tournament quarterfinals.

Fullerton then took on a weary and wounded UC Davis team, which struggled to keep pace with the Titans in their 82-70 victory at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.

The third-seeded Titans (18-15) advance to play second-seeded Hawaii (22-8) in the second semifinal on Friday at 8:30 p.m. PT. Top-seeded UC Irvine (22-10) faces fourth-seeded Cal State Northridge (20-13) in the 6 p.m. semifinal.

“We did what we needed to do today, and we’re going to do it again tomorrow,” said Fullerton guard Joshua Ward, who scored a team-high 24 points, finishing 17 for 19 at the free-throw line.

Ward also grabbed 10 rebounds, one of three players for the Titans to record a double-double.

Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Bryce Cofield finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Landon Seaman pitched in 16 points and KJ Garris led the reserves with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Fullerton split its two regular-season meetings against UCD (19-14) this season, but went 0-2 against Hawaii. The Titans played the Rainbow Warriors down to the wire in their latest meeting on Feb. 28 in Fullerton, however.

Fullerton took a one-point lead with nine seconds left, but Dre Bullock hit a 26-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 87-85 win.

“It’s just motivation to go out and get the W tomorrow,” Ward said. “Just do what we do in practice. Listen to the coaches, stick to the game plan and then be us. Be us. It got us here. It worked all year, so we’re just going to do it again.”

Sixth-seeded UC Davis was coming off a 79-73 win against seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the first round on Wednesday night.

The Aggies were also playing their fifth game without third-leading scorer Nils Cooper, who was on the bench with his wrist in a cast, and leading scorer Connor Sevilla also had his wrist wrapped after taking a fall at the end of the win against UCSB.

Fullerton took advantage, forcing 16 turnovers and owning a 52-30 advantage in rebounds.

The Titans, who did not qualify for the eight-team conference tournament the past two seasons, made their move midway through the first half, using a 16-3 run to turn a 16-13 deficit into a 29-19 lead with 2:44 left.

Another 9-0 burst stretched the advantage to 38-22 before the Aggies scored the final four points of the half to make it a 12-point deficit at the break.

Fullerton continued to extend its lead early in the second half, going ahead 54-33 with 13:38 left.

The Titans were still up by 21 with five minutes remaining when UCD tried to make it interesting, cutting it to 74-68 with 2:04 left, but Seaman scored a reverse layup on a post move and the Titans sealed the win by going 6 for 6 at the free-throw line over the final 1:23.

Fullerton finished 38 for 45 from the line as a team.

“We did a good job knocking them down,” Ward said.

Sevilla finished with 20 points, Marcus Wilson scored 15 and Omer Suljanovic contributed 10 off the bench for UC Davis.

Orange County Register

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Cal State Fullerton men top UC Davis to reach Big West tourney semifinals

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