Fullerton hands ’Bows tough loss

Kyle Allman was molten.

The Cal State Fullerton guard erupted for 40 points, one off the Stan Sheriff Center scoring record set by former Titan Josh Akognon, as CSUF stormed back for its first win in Honolulu as a Big West foe, 69-66 on Saturday night.

In the process, he knocked UH (13-6, 4-2 BWC) from its tenuous perch at the top of the conference and snapped the Rainbow Warriors’ four-game winning streak, while launching the formerly first-place Titans (12-8, 5-3) back into contention.

A season-high crowd of 5,778 was stunned speechless as the 6-foot-3 junior connected again and again on jump shots, rallying his team from an 11-point second-half hole and weighting the Titans’ shooting to 61.4 percent. He misfired on only three of his 19 attempts in tying Roderick Flemings’ building record for made field goals, as well as Corey Hawkins’ mark for most points against UH in the Big West.

“I just got a great week of work in and had great confidence,” said Allman, who topped 30 points for the fourth time this season.

UH, down three in the waning seconds and out of timeouts, got it to Drew Buggs on the wing for a contested look to tie. The point guard’s shot was well short.

Rainbows forward Mike Thomas exploded out of the gate for 20 of his 26 points in the first half, including 18 of his team’s first 21. He shot 9-for-14, including his first two 3-pointers of the season, but was turned from the post late on a tying attempt with a minute left.

The UH co-captain could only shake his head at Allman’s final line.

“Never on us,” Thomas said of whether he’d seen a shooting performance like that. “He came out and played. Credit to him. He shot 16-for-19. From the perimeter. It’s ridiculous.”

Thomas and Allman went bucket for bucket in the first half, albeit at different positions. Only a missed foul shot by Allman with 3.5 seconds left in the period prevented both players going into the break with 20 points, UH leading 41-35.

The ’Bows extended that to double digits for the first time when Buggs swiped a lost ball back in transition and found Sheriff Drammeh for an open 3 a few minutes into the second half.

Guard Brocke Stepteau appeared ready to make a return from a one-game absence from a finger injury, having practiced all week. UH’s fourth-leading scorer dressed to play but instead sat for the second straight game. The absence of his clutch shot-making was felt late, when UH struggled late in the shot clock when Fullerton buckled down.

“We struggled to get stops the entire game. Our offense was able to sustain it in the first half,” Thomas said. “Maintaining it was an issue for us.

“One team’s fire had to be put out.”

Fullerton came in winless in Honolulu as a Big West opponent in five tries, and it looked like 0-for-6 much of the night. The Titans’ second option, guard Khalil Ahmad, was held scoreless. The Titans even had a five-minute second-half scoring drought. Allman ended that on a drive to get his team back within 48-39.

“That was a key stretch. … A key time for us to handle success,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “In retrospect, I don’t know if we could’ve handled it worse. Turnovers, bad shots and lapses defensively.”

CSUF hit three straight 3s, two by Allman, to claw within four points with 10 minutes left. Allman slipped to the rim for a bucket plus the foul to get within 59-55, and UH followed with a shot clock violation coming out of a timeout.

Jackson Rowe (14 points) sliced to the rim for two and a two-point game with five minutes left. UH pushed it back to six on a Thomas bucket and a Jack Purchase putback.

Allman kept coming, netted a step-back jumper and a pull-up 3 to get within one. He got to 40 points at the line, tying the game at 65.

“Kyle was Kyle, the Kyle we’ve grown to know,” Titans coach Dedrique Taylor said. “But he did score a few more points than we’re used to and obviously we needed all of it. There were also some great contributions from other players when we needed them and it was a great team win. We beat a very good team.”

Leland Green missed on a pullup and Rowe scored in transition with 1:45 remaining for Fullerton’s first lead since the opening minutes. Buggs got fouled on a drive with 12.1 seconds left and could’ve tied it, but he went 1-for-2 and UH had to take a foul on Austen Awosika, who made both for the final margin and set up UH’s desperate shot.

UH now prepares to head out for a pair of road games at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. The Gauchos (5-2 BWC), winners at UC Riverside on Saturday night, are right behind Hawaii and Long Beach State (6-2).