January 9, 2003
RIVERSIDE, CA-- Long Beach State missed two opportunities to tie or win the game in the final seconds and dropped a 77-73 decision on Thursday night at UC Riverside in a Big West Conference game. The 49ers, who dropped their ninth game in a row, fell to 1-10 overall and 0-2 in the Big West while UCR improved to 2-7 and 1-2 in league play.
The 49ers battled back from a 67-56 deficit at the 6:23 mark to pull to within 72-71 with 46 seconds left to play. Tony Darden capped the 15-5 run by banking in a three-pointer, his fifth three of the half and sixth of the game. The 49ers fouled at the 0:36 mark and Kevin Butler missed the front end of a one-and-one, but UCR's Nate Carter grabbed the rebound and put it back in, giving UCR a 74-71 lead. Long Beach came right back and scored at 0:16 on a lay-up by Travis Clark, cutting the deficit back to one point, 74-73. Jibril Hodges then fouled Ted Bell sending him to the charity stripe for two shots. Bell missed the first and made the second, making the score 75-73. The 49ers came down court and Chris Jenkins missed a three-pointer with nine seconds left and Darden then fouled Butler with seven secons left. The foul on Darden was his fifth of the game. Butler made one of two tosses, making the score 76-73, but a final shot by the 49ers with two seconds left missed and UCR came away with the rebound and the win.
Darden was spectacular for the 49ers in the second half, scoring 16 of his team-high 19 points. Darden was 5-5 from three-point range in the second stanza. Kevin Roberts finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Clark had a career-high 14 points. Carter led UCR with 25 points and Ted Bell added 17 off the bench for Riverside.
UCR jumped on the 49ers early and often in the first half, stretching a 25-21 lead at 8:28 to 40-21 at 4:50. Bell knocked down two three-pointers in that 15-0 run and Carter added five. The 49ers trailed 46-27 at the 2:39 mark, but responded with a 9-1 run to pull to within 47-36 at the half. Clark had seven of those nine points, hitting a three-pointer and going four of four at the free throw line. UCR shot an amazing .727 (8-11) from three-point range in the first half and .551 (16-26) overall from the field.
Long Beach out-rebounded UCR 32 to 28 and were 17-20 (.850) at the free throw line. The 49ers shot a respectable .444 (24-54) from the field, but UCR finished shooting .551 (27-49) overall and 10-17 (.588) from three-point range.
The 49ers will next be in action on Saturday, January 11 when they play at Cal State Fullerton. Tip-off is at 7:05 pm at Titan Gym.
BOX SCORE
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