Dec. 5, 2010

Box Score

BOISE, Idaho - Greg Plater and Casper Ware combined to score 33 points in the second half to lead Long Beach State to a come-from-behind 69-66 win at Boise State on Sunday.

Plater scored a game-high 21 points, 19 of them in the second half. Ware added 16 points, 14 in the second half, and six assists. T.J. Robinson had his sixth straight double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, while Eugene Phelps scored 13 points. Phelps has now scored in double digits in five straight games. Tristan Wilson led The Beach with 11 boards while also scoring eight points.

Robert Arnold led Boise State (6-1) with 16 points, but on just 6-of-21 shooting.

"I thought that we really battled," head coach Dan Monson said. "Game on the road are not going to be perfect and you have to stay together. To end that game with three guys that haven't hardly played this year shows what a great team win it was."

Both teams struggled early scoring just eight points each in the first 8:51. LBSU (5-4) committed eight turnovers during the stretch, while Boise State made just three of its first 13 shots. Phelps had four of the 49ers first eight points and six of their first 10.

The Beach continued to struggle on the offensive end finishing the half with 14 turnovers, but the 49ers defense kept them in the game holding BSU to 9-of-29 shooting, including 2-of-8 from three. LBSU answered by making just 9-of-24 shots and trailed 25-21 going into the half. Phelps led the 49ers with eight first half points, while Robinson had five and Wilson had four points and a team-high nine boards.

Boise State got seven points and eight rebounds from Daequon Montreal, while Anderson had six points, all coming in the final 2:10 of the half.

Boise State came out of the half and scored the first five points to push the lead to 30-21 forcing the 49ers to take a timeout. Robinson stopped the Broncos run with a put back off a Plater missed three.

Arnold answered for the Broncos hitting his second three of the half and third of the game to make it a 10-point Bronco lead. Wilson and Robinson added buckets to help the 49ers cut the lead to single digits while Sean Imadiyi had a dunk for BSU.

Long Beach State went on a 7-0 run out of the first media timeout to cut the lead to one. Plater drilled a three after Ware knocked down two free throws following a technical on Boise State coach Leon Rice.

Boise State answered with a 12-2 run of its own to push the lead back to 10. Perryman hit three shots and Anderson had two hoops to make it 46-36. Phelps scored the only basket for the 49ers during the stretch. Boise State made 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) shots during the first 8:30 of the second half, while LBSU made just 5-of-14 (35.7 percent).

The 49ers battled back again going on a 15-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the second half. Ware hit a three after Kyle Richardson grabbed a missed free throw and kicked it out to Ware to cut the lead to one. Plater followed with back-to-back threes to push the LBSU lead to 55-50 forcing Boise State to take a timeout.

Paul Noonan snapped the LBSU run with a basket and he was fouled by Robinson, his fifth with 4:06 to play. Noonan made the free throw to make it a two-point game. After an LBSU turnover, Anderson scored and was fouled by Ware. He completed the three-point play to put Boise State back in the lead.

Plater responded for the 49ers drilling a three to put Long Beach State back in front and he added another basket to make the lead four. Montreal answered at the other end to cut the lead to 60-58 with three minutes to play.

Wilson added a pair of free throws to put The Beach back on top by four, but Arnold responded with a monster follow jam to pull the Broncos back to within two, 62-60. Plater hit a pair of free throws to push it back to four.

After a Montreal free throw cut the lead to three, Ware drilled a long three from the top of the key as the shot clock wound down to put LBSU on top 67-61. BSU cut the lead to four on a basket by Arnold with 17 second to play and then he followed with a three with 10 seconds left to cut the lead to one.

Ware was fouled and calmly went to the line and sank both free throws with 9.6 seconds to play to push the lead back to three.

Long Beach State converted on 14-of-27 (51.9 percent) shots in the second half and 23-of-51 (45.1 percent) for the game. The Beach hit 7-of-10 shots from three in the second half after going 0-for-2 in the first half. Long Beach State also won the battle of the boards 42-34 and held Boise State to 37.7 percent shooting.