B.J. Edwards posted his second triple-double of the season as SMU dominated from start to finish, steamrolling Cal State Fullerton 110-63 on Sunday in Dallas in its final tune-up for Atlantic Coast Conference play.
SMU (11-2) swamped the Titans in the first half, leading by 32 at halftime. The Mustangs put their attack into cruise control in the second half, pushing their lead to 70-35 on Samet Yigitoglu’s layup with 14:04 to play.
Jermaine O’Neal Jr.’s alley-oop dunk off an assist from Edwards with 4:22 to play stoked the lead to 40 and allowed SMU to reach the 100-point mark for the fourth time this season. The Mustangs’ 110-point output marked their season high.
Edwards notched 21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals and O’Neal also scored 21. Corey Washington added 15 points, Boopie Miller racked up 14 points and 12 assists and Jaren Pierre Jr. and Samet Yigitoglu scored 11 points apiece. Yigitoglu also contributed 12 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Mustangs won their second straight and remained unbeaten at home.
Josh Ward had 16 points, seven assists and four steals and Kiwane Garris Jr. scored 13 for Cal State Fullerton (5-9), which has dropped two straight.
The Mustangs set the tone from the jump, scoring the game’s first 10 points and forging a 15-2 run capped by Washington’s layup at the 15:09 mark. Pierre scored seven straight points over a two-minute stretch in the middle of the half to help expand SMU’s lead to 28-12 with 8:39 to play before halftime.
Washington hit a 3-pointer and Edwards followed with a dunk off the break as the first five points of an 11-1 run that built the Mustangs’ advantage to 39-13. SMU kept its collective foot to the pedal, pushing the lead to 33 after an O’Neal 3-pointer at the 2:25 mark. The Mustangs led 51-19 at the break on the strength of 52.8% shooting from the floor.
O’Neal had 14 points off the bench to lead all scorers before halftime while Washington hit for 10 for SMU; the two combined to hit 9 of 11 shots from the field in the half, outscoring the Titans by five points.
Cal State Fullerton had no player with more than five points and shot only 22.6% over the first 20 minutes. The Titans scored just seven points over the final 9:21 of the first half.
