March 5, 2010

Box Score

It wasn't easy, but Long Beach State wrapped up at least the fourth seed and a first-round bye in next week's Big West Conference Tournament Friday night.

The Beach (15-15, 8-8 Big West) built a double-digit lead and then held off a UC Riverside (12-17, 5-11 Big West) rally to claim a 76-74 Big West Conference win at the Walter Pyramid in front of 4,164 fans. LBSU locked up the fourth seed, but cand still claim the third seed if UC Davis beats Cal State Fullerton Saturday and Cal Poly loses at home to UC Irvine.

The game wasn't decided until the final second of the game. After Greg Plater missed a pair of free throws with six seconds to play that would have clinched the victory, the Highlanders raced down the court and got the ball to Niko Brooks for a possible game winning 3-pointer. Casper Ware ended Brooks', and the Highlanders', hopes when he blocked the shot. It was the perfect end to a great game for the sophomore point guard. Ware finished with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists (with just one turnover), three steals and the crucial block.

Early on it didn't look like the 49ers would need late game heroics. On a senior night where Stephan Gilling, Arturas Lazdauskas and Andrew Fleming were honored in their final game at the Walter Pyramid, it was Gilling who made the most of the night. The 49er sharpshooter canned 7-of-10 shots before the break, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, en route scoring all 18 of his points in the first half.

Larry Gurganious kept the Highlanders in the game finishing with a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds. His hot hand, coupled with Rudy Meo's 12 points and Bryan Hampton's 10 points helped the Highlanders overcome a poor shooting night from Kyle Austin, the Big West Conference's leading scorer. Austin finished with just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting and didn't score until there was 4:46 to play in the game. Once he scored though, he was tough to stop scoring his nine points in less than four minutes. His final points came on a 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play and got UCR within two points setting up Plater's missed free throws.

Despite the two missed free throws, Plater was key in the 49ers win. UCR took Gilling away in the second half, but Plater answered. He scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, including a number of crucial 3-pointers. He finished the game with five threes, with four of them coming after the break. T.J. Robinson added 14 points and a team-high nine boards. LBSU finished the game making 46.4 percent of its shots, but the 49ers made 10-of-20 threes to outscore the Highlanders who converted on 50.9 percent of their shots.

Long Beach State will open the Big West Tournament next Thursday. If the 49ers are the fourth seed they will play the late game, which will start 30 minutes after the early game ends. If they are the third seed they play at 6 p.m.