| | Beach Ready To Start Practice |
October 9, 2002
PDF Version of Release
LONG BEACH, CA-- The Long Beach State men's basketball team will kick off the 2002-03 season with its first practice on Saturday, October 12 at 2:00 pm in the Gold Mine. First-year head coach Larry Reynolds welcomes back seven letterwinners, two redshirts and four newcomers as The Beach looks to rebound from last year's 13-17 record.
"Obviously we are excited to get started," said Reynolds. "It's been a long period of time and we haven't had an opportunity to work with the team as a whole. I'm anxious to just get started. There is a lot of anticipation and speculation with a new coach and I'm ready to get to work and find out what we have."
Reynolds welcomes the return of senior forward Lemi Williams to the 49er lineup. Williams missed all of last season with shin problems, which resulted in surgery. Williams is back at near full strength with hopes of returning to his form of 2000-01 when he averaged 11.7 points per game and connected on 49 3-pointers.
Also returning are seniors Tony Darden, Vance Lawhorn and Tadeu Souza. Darden averaged 10.1 points per game last year while connecting on 60-175 of his 3-point attempts. Lawhorn was a key reseve off the bench last year and averaged 4.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, while Souza played in the first eight games of the season, but missed the remainder due to injury.
Reynolds also looks for strong contributions from junior Kevin Roberts, sophomores Chris Jenkins, Mark Bowens and Cody Pearson and redshirt freshman Alex Graham.
Four newcomers dot the roster and all should make significant contributions this year. Juniors Marcel Jackson (C, 6-9, 260, San Jose City College), Antoine Jackson (F, 6-8, 240, South Plains College) and Darnell Thompson (G, 6-2, 195, Riverside CC) will be joined by true freshman Jibril Hodges (G, 6-2, 170, Park Forest, IL/Rich East HS). Marcel Jackson averaged 8.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game last year at San Jose City College while Antoione Jackson averaged 4.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game for South Plains College. Thompson helped lead Riverside CC to the Elite Eight of the JC State Tournament while averaging 9.2 points and 5.2 assists per game. Hodges was a first team all-conference and all-region pick after averaging 19.5 points, 5.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game his senior campaign.
2002-03 Schedule
NOVEMBER
8 # CS SAN BERNARDINO 7:35 PM
13 # GLOBAL SPORTS 7:35 PM
22 at Charlotte 4:35 pm
26 CS MONTEREY BAY 7:35 PM
DECEMBER
2 PEPPERDINE 7:35 PM
4 at Southern Utah 6:05 pm
8 at UCLA 1:05 pm
10 SAN DIEGO STATE 7:35 PM
14 at Loyola Marymount 7:05 pm
20 at Gonzaga 7:05 pm
30 PORTLAND 7:35 PM
JANUARY
4 * UC IRVINE 7:35 PM
9 * at UC Riverside 7:05 pm
11 * at CS Fullerton 7:05 pm
16 * IDAHO (FOX) 5:35 PM
18 * UTAH STATE 7:35 PM
22 * at CS Northridge (KDOC) 7:05 pm
25 * at Pacific 7:05 pm
29 * CAL POLY (KDOC) 7:05 PM
FEBRUARY
1 * UC SANTA BARBARA 7:35 PM
6 * CS FULLERTON (FOX) 5:35 PM
8 * UC RIVERSIDE 7:35 PM
13 * at Idaho 7:05 pm
15 * at Utah State 6:05 pm
19 * PACIFIC (KDOC) 7:05 PM
22 * CS NORTHRIDGE 5:05 PM
27 * at UC Santa Barbara (FOX) 5:35 pm
MARCH
1 * at Cal Poly 7:05 pm
8 * at UC Irvine (KDOC) 7:05 pm
# Exhibition Game
* Big West Conference Game
KEY DATES
Saturday, October 12: First Day of Practice, 2:00 pm, The Gold Mine
Sunday, October 27: Long Beach State Basketball Fun Fest, 12-3 pm, The Pyramid
(12 pm: Women's Scrimmage / 1 pm: Men's Legends Game / 2 pm: Men's Scrimmage)
Wednesday, November 6: Big West Basketball Media Day, Irvine Marriott
Friday, November 8: First exhibition game vs. CS San Bernardino, 7:35 pm, The Pyramid
Wednesday, November 13: Second exhibition game vs. Global Sports, 7:35 pm, The Pyramid
Friday, November 22: Opening game of the season at Charlotte, 4:35 pm, Pacific
Tuesday, November 26: Home opener vs. CS Monterey Bay, 7:35 pm, The Pyramid
49ERS ON THE RADIO
Listen to all 49er road games on KRLA (AM 870). All home games can be heard live on the internet at www.kbeach.org.
49ERS ON TELEVISION
Jan. 16 vs. Idaho Fox West 2
Jan. 22 at CS Northridge KDOC
Jan. 29 vs. Cal Poly KDOC
Feb. 6 vs. CS Fullerton Fox West 2
Feb. 19 vs. Pacific KDOC
Feb. 27 at UCSB Fox West 2
Mar. 1 at UC Irvine KDOC
2002-03 LONG BEACH STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL ROSTER
NO NAME POS YR HT WT HOMETOWN / PREVIOUS SCHOOLS
1 Jibril Hodges G Fr. 6-2 170 Park Forest, IL/Rich East HS
5 Marcel Jackson F Jr. 6-9 260 Santa Cruz, CA/San Jose CC/Santa Cruz HS
10 Cody Pearson G So. 6-3 185 Sherman Oaks, CA/Notre Dame HS
11 Darnell Thompson G Jr. 6-2 195 Los Angeles, CA/Riverside CC/Rubideaux HS
12 Mark Bowens G So. 6-2 190 Peoria, AZ/Cactus HS
14 Tadeu Souza F Sr. 6-8 240 Sao Paulo, Brazil/Mineral Area JC/Dana Hills HS
20 Tony Darden G Sr. 6-4 200 Snow Hill, NC/Dodge City CC/Greene County HS
30 Kevin Roberts F Jr. 6-7 235 Petaluma, CA/Casa Grande HS
32 Vance Lawhorn F Sr. 6-8 230 Las Vegas, NV/Dixie JC/Western HS
34 Lemi Williams F Sr. 6-6 215 Hayti, MO/Mineral Area JC/North Pemiscot HS
42 Antoine Jackson F Jr. 6-8 240 San Antonio, TX/South Plains College/John Jay HS
44 Alex Graham C RFr. 7-1 230 Redlands, CA/Redlands HS
52 Chris Jenkins F So. 6-7 190 Albuquerque, NM/Sandia HS
Head Coach: Larry Reynolds, 1st year (UC Riverside, 1976)
Associate Head Coach: Bill Carr, 1st year (U. of San Francisco, 1991)
Assistant Coach: Reggie Howard, 1st year (UC Riverside, 1991)
Assistant Coach: Brent Bargen, 3rd year (Doane College, 1993)
Strength & Conditioning: Booker T. Harris, 1st year (U. of San Francisco, 1999)
Administrative Assistant: Scott Waterman, 1st year (Occidental College, 2002)
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