Despite losing their ace shooter to a game-time decision, The Men’s basketball Titans kicked off the spring semester with a bang, defeating the Highlanders of UC Riverside 72-61 Wednesday night in the Titan Gym.

Josh Akognon, the Titan’s top scorer, injured his finger last week in a game against UC Davis, and after testing it out during shoot-around determined he was unable to play. Nonetheless, the Titans rallied thanks to a great team effort and strong defense.

“It was a great win for us, especially when you come in and find out your leading scorer’s not going to play,” Coach Bob Burton said, referring to Akognon, “our team really relies a lot on shooting, it took a long time for the offense to adjust, but I thought our defense was really good, the defense won the game tonight.”

The Titans held the Highlanders to a mere 39% shooting percentage, largely thanks to the imposing presence of the 5’6 Guard from Santa Cruz, Junior Russell, who poured in 16 points on the Highlanders, and was a menace on the defensive end, taking 2 steals the length of the floor for scores.

“I thought we played alright without our main scorer, and even though we were at a loss we were still able to come out with a victory” Russell said.

“I thought Junior was terrific tonight, defensively he disrupted their whole game,” said Coach Burton.

The Titans also got a huge lift from Marcio Lassiter, who added a career-high 17 points off the bench, including a 3-point buzzer-beater at the end of the first half. A shot that Coach Burton felt gave them the momentum they needed to come out strong in the second half.

“He’s capable of doing that, he’s just needed the opportunity to do it, and tonight he got it,” Burton said of Lassiter.

“I was hungry. I got my opportunity and wanted to prove myself. I’m not here to be just another man on the team,” Lassiter said, “I go at it, every single day, whether [I’m] a starter or the last man off the bench, I just go at it everyday and it wasn’t any different tonight … I’m hungry.”

This was the second Titan victory over the Highlanders this season, the first coming in a 30-point blowout at Riverside. The victory moves the Titans to 12-6 on the season and 5-2 in Conference play, and are now right on the heels of the Conference-leading Cal State Northridge. Other key players for the Titans included Frank Robinson who scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, and Scott Cutley, who continued his domination on the boards, getting 9 rebounds and adding 6 points.

As far as the injury to Akognon is concerned, he is being X-rayed and provided there are no broken or fractured bones, should be in the line-up Thursday vs. Long Beach.

Coach Burton is very optimistic about the team’s chances this season to take the Big West championship and earn a bid in the NCAA tournament, but continues to take it one game at a time.

“Our goal right now is game to game, winning the next game, playing good defense and keeping the momentum going” Burton said.

The team has been very strong offensively this season, despite the loss of all-time leading scorer, Bobby Brown, who graduated last year. The Point Guard combination of Junior Russell and Marcus Crenshaw have helped fill the void and are major players in what Coach Burton refers to as “the best offensive team we’ve had, shooting-wise.”

“I’m not going to say I’m filling Bobby’s shoes,” Russell said, “because he’s a scorer, he led the team in everything. I’m just here to play and to lead the team … I’m trying to fit in and make my way to be like Bobby, but I don’t think I’m there yet,”

No matter what injuries or set backs the Titans may encounter, there is no question what the team’s goal is for the season; to win the Big West Championship.

“After everyday of practice we say ‘championship on 3,’” Lassiter said, “we still believe it. We can have a guy injured but we always trust all our teammates, they always come and step it up.”

Titan basketball will continue its march for the championship this Thursday when they travel to Long Beach State for their first meeting with the 49ers of the season.