Long Beach State stayed perfect in conference by dispatching Cal State Fullerton in a 75-61 win in front of a record 5,649 crowd at the Walter Pyramid. LBSU junior guard James Ennis scored 19 points, including 13 in the final seven minutes to seal the win.CSUF (13-7, 5-3) was trailing by as many as 10 points, and tied the game twice at 51-51 and 53-53 with baskets by junior and sophomore guards D.J. Seeley and Isiah Umipig. LBSU (16-6, 9-0) answered with two baskets by Ennis and senior forward Edis Dervisevic to give LBSU a 58-53 lead.With 4:13 left to play, Umipig’s 3-pointer got CSUF within one point, 60-59, but Ennis answered with a basket and an ensuing free throw to kick off a 15-2 run to close the game.”We felt in order for us to win this game we couldn’t turn the ball over, because they run so well,” said CSUF Head Coach Bob Burton. “We had 21 turnovers and that’s what just killed us. You can’t get back when you turn it over like that.”Both teams had trouble keeping possession of the ball with LBSU committing 18 turnovers and CSUF having 21 turnovers. The CSUF defense limited LBSU star players Casper Ware and T.J. Robinson to 11 and 10 points respectively, but had no answer for Ennis and Larry Anderson, who scored 16 points.

Ware played terrific defense on Titan’s junior guard Kwame Vaughn. Vaughn went 0-7 from the field and scored only 2 points and committed seven turnovers.

In the first half, CSUF senior forward Omondi Amoke took control scoring 16 first half points and grabbing five rebounds. Going into intermission, the Titans shot 43 percent and committed 10 turnovers while trailing by seven.

In the second half, LBSU keyed in on Amoke, limiting him to four points. But that gave way to Umipig having a big second half. The guard scored 14 points in the half to lead the Titans back into the game.

“I thought Umipig gave us a great lift in the second half. He really started to step it up. He’s a guy that really got us back into it,” Coach Burton said.

But after Ennis’ 3-point play, the Titans couldn’t silence the hostile crowd and sway the momentum back in their favor.

“That’s the great thing about them playing at home, the momentum turn. One bad play by us and a guy gets a ‘and-one’ and boom. It’s that quick,” said Amoke. ”They get their fans involved. It’s a difficult place to play.”

“You’re right where you want to be on the road and then we didn’t respond. They hit us in the mouth and we didn’t hit them back,” Coach Burton said.

The win gives LBSU a 2 1/2 game lead over second place UC Santa Barbara. The loss dropped CSUF to third and they now trail by 3 1/2 games.

The Titans play their next three games at home. This weekend they play host to Cal Poly and UCSB.