Wednesday, March 11th, 11:30 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Anaheim Convention Center Arena (7,734) -- Anaheim, California. Television: BigWest TV. Home Record: CSF 6-6, UCR 11-2. Away Record: CSF 7-7, UCR 6-10. Neutral Record: CSF 1-3, UCR 0-0. Conference Record: CSF 7-9, UCR 8-8. Series Record: Cal State Fullerton leads, 19-15.

GAME NOTES: The Cal State Fullerton Titans begin defense on their Big West Conference Tournament crown tonight, as they take on the UC Riverside Highlanders in the first round at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. The Titans stumbled down the stretch, dropping five of their last six conference games to finish just 7-9. With that mark, CSF earned the seventh seed in this tourney and that came with a first round game. The Titans have gone 20-28 all- time in this event and captured their second title last season as the third seed. As for UCR, it defeated Cal Poly in its regular season finale to pull into a three-way tie for fourth place at 8-8. The Highlanders unfortunately, lost out on the tie-breaker scenario and were awarded the sixth seed. UCR doesn't have much of a history in this event, going just 2-4 all-time. In terms of the all-time series, CSF holds a 19-15 edge over UCR after the teams split a pair of meetings during the regular season. The BWC Tournament re- seeds after each round, so the winner of this game will meet either Pacific or UC Santa Barbara on Thursday.

The Titans like to push the tempo of a game and that has helped them to average a solid 74.1 ppg. The team is paced by Josh Akognon, who recently became the first CSF player to earn the outright BWC Player of the Year award. Akognon is the BWC's leading scorer at 23.5 ppg and he loves to bomb away from three-point range. On the season, Akognon averages over 11 three-point attempts per game and he is draining 36.1 percent of those tries. Jacques Streeter has been in charge of feeding Akognon the ball, as he dishes out a team-high 4.4 apg. He also chips in with 10.4 ppg on 42.3 percent shooting from downtown.

The Highlanders are scoring and giving up 60.7 ppg on the season, but they are shooting 38.1 percent from three-point range compared to just 34.6 percent by opposing clubs. UCR has also done a decent job on the boards, where it is outrebounding opponents by nearly 4.0 rpg. Kyle Austin is currently the only player on the roster averaging in double figures, with 16.8 ppg, and he is also pulling down 6.2 rpg. Javon Borum is next in order with 9.7 ppg and he is one of the team's most accurate three-point shooters, hitting at a 42.6 percent clip.

The Titans are the more potent team here and with Akognon leading the charge, they should prevail tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Cal State Fullerton 70, UC Riverside 66