Titans guard Kyle Allman earned the Big West Tournament Most Valuable Player award after securing a conference championship for Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball with a 71-55 win over UC Irvine.
Allman, along with guard Khalil Ahmad and forward Jackson Rowe, were named to the Big West All-Tournament team.
“I just wanted to take it game by game and let everything fall into place. It just happened the way I wanted it to,” Allman said.
Allman locked up the award after his heroic efforts against the Anteaters. He scored 26 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists and collected three steals in the win.
“I worked super hard to get this. I was down on not being player of the year so this made me really happy,” Allman said.
He is now the second player in program history to receive this achievement.
The trio accounted for 145 of the team’s 202 points scored throughout the tournament. Ahmad was the only Titan to score in double digits in all three postseason games.
Rowe put together a convincing case for tournament MVP in the first two games, averaging 17 points, 9.5 rebounds and two steals over the stretch. However, his quiet night against Irvine combined with the superb play of Allman left Rowe empty-handed.
“I wasn’t worried about tournament MVP. I was worried about getting through to March Madness,” Rowe said.
Only one member of the media Big West preseason poll predicted the Titans would win the conference. Allman said the team used the predictions as motivation during the postseason.
Rowe said the disbelief fueled their tournament run and continues to give them confidence going forward.
“When people doubt us, it makes us play even harder,” Rowe said.
The Titans earned a No. 15 seed in the east region of the NCAA tournament and will take on No. 2 Purdue University in Detroit, Michigan on Friday, March 16 at 9:40 a.m. PST.
