Check out the 2002-03 Results
The Records: Long Beach State finished the 2002-03 season at 5-22 overall and 4-14 in the Big West Conference. The 22 losses is the most for a Long Beach State team since the 1984-85 team went 4-23.
All-Conference Honors: Long Beach State had two players honored on Monday, March 10 with post-season accolades. Senior guard Tony Darden was named Honorable Mention All-Big West, while freshman guard Jibril Hodges was named to the All-Freshman Team. UCSB's Bob Williams was selected as the Coach of the Year, Branduinn Fullove of UCSB was voted Player of the Year and UC Riverside's Nate Carter was the Freshman of the Year. First team all-league selections were: Fullove, Varnie Dennis (Cal Poly), Jordan Harris (UCI), Ralphy Holmes (CS Fullerton), Mark Hull (UCSB) and Desmond Penigar (Utah State).
Full All-Conference Team
49ers Miss The Tournament: The 49ers were officially eliminated from the Big West Conference Tournament with their loss on March 1 at Cal Poly. The last time the 49ers missed the Big West Tournament was in 1986 when the tournament was being held at the Inglewood Forum. LBSU was 7-22 overall and 3-15 in the 1985-86 season under Ron Palmer. The 49ers finished in 10th place in the final league standings.
Tony Darden: Senior guard Tony Darden (Snow Hill, NC) earned Honorable Mention All-Big West honors this season after averaging 15.9 points per game, tops on the squad. Darden scored in double figures in 23 of the 27 games and tallied 20 or more points seven times. He scored a career-high 30 points in the 49ers win over Pacific on Feb. 19 as he was 10-15 from the field and 6-9 from three-point range. He was selected as the Big West Player of the Week on Feb. 24 after averaging 25.5 points and 4.0 assists per game against Pacific and CS Northridge. Darden scored 27 points in his last game as a 49er, this past Saturday at UC Irvine. He concluded his career on a high note as he averaged 22.4 points per game in his last five games, while shooting .477 (21-44) from three-point range. Darden tied a school-record for three's in a single game on Dec. 2 vs. Pepperdine when he was 8-11 from three-point range. The eight made three's vs. the Waves tied the record set by Morlon Wiley vs. UCSB on Feb. 4, 1987. Darden was 79-199 (.397) three-point range this season, setting new school-record's for three's made (79) and attempted (199). On the 49er career chart his 139 made three's ranks fourth-best all-time at LBSU. Darden was also the 49ers best free throw shooter, hitting .829 (102-123) of his charity attempts this season, and, he led the squad with 65 assists.
Vance Lawhorn: Senior Vance Lawhorn (Las Vegas, NV) finished his 49er career in fine fashion. In Big west Conference games he averaged 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting .667 (76-114) from the field. Overall, he averaged 9.7 points and 4.2 boards while shooting .655 (93-142). Lawhorn scored in double-figures 12 times on the season, but accomplished that feat in nine of his final 13 games. On Jan. 22 he scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds in an 85-77 loss at CS Northridge. Lawhorn was 9-10 from the field and 11-14 at the free throw line in that contest. He had 17 points and eight rebounds at home vs. UC Riverside and scored 16 points at Cal Poly. His .655 field goal percentage was tops on the team and his 16 blocked shots tied him for second on the squad.
Kevin Roberts: Junior forward Kevin Roberts (Petaluma, CA) had a strong campaign as he averaged 12.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game overall. He led the team in rebounding and finished second in scoring. Roberts tallied double digits in scoring 19 times on the season, with his season-high of 21 coming vs. Portland. roberts had a stretch of 12 consecutive games where he reached double digits in scoring during the conference season. After hitting nine rebounds in several contests, Roberts finally earned his first double-double as a 49er on jan. 9 with 16 points and 10 rebounds at UC Riverside. In the home game vs. UCR he recorded another double-double with 16 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. Roberts led the squad this season with 25 steals, tied for second with 16 blocked shots and was fourth in assists with 44. He had 10 games where he scored 15 or more points.
Jibril Hodges: Freshman guard Jibril Hodges (Park Forest, IL) was named to the Big West Conference All-Freshman Team after averaging 6.0 points and 2.1 assists per game. Hodges played in all 27 games and started 12 times, including the final 11 games of the year. Hodges upped his play in the Big West as he averaged 7.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. In league outings he had 51 assists and just 41 turnovers. Hodges finished the season shooting .840 (21-25) at the free throw line and .340 (36-106) from three-point range. He scored a career-high 19 points in the 49ers upset win over UCSB, hitting 5-11 shots from three-point range. He finished with five double-figure scoring games, including 17 points at Utah State and 14 in the home win over Pacific. One of his best overall games came in the win over CS Fullerton as he had 10 points, three rebounds and a career-high seven assists. He recorded at least one assist in 15 of the 18 league contests. His first start in league play came on Jan. 29 vs. Cal Poly and he finished with 12 points and six assists.
Cody Pearson: Sophomore Cody Pearson (Sherman Oaks, CA) put some solid games together the last half of the year for the 49ers. Pearson averaged 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in Big West contests, hitting double digits in scoring three times. He tallied a career-high 12 points at CS Northridge, while also adding five rebounds. He had 10 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five assists in the home win over CS Fullerton and had 10 points and two assists at UCSB. Pearson shot .535 (38-71) from the field and .721 (31-43) from the free throw line. He played in 26 of the 27 games, starting eight times. He played 20 or more minutes in 15 games, including 10 of the last 13 games. Pearson grabbed 92 total rebounds this season, 31 of which came on the offensive glass. He recorded a career-high 10 rebounds in the win over CS Monterey Bay and had seven boards in wins over CS Fullerton and Pacific. His 31 offensive rebounds was tied for third on the team this season.
Antoine Jackson: Junior Antoine Jackson (San Antonio, TX) finished his first year at LBSU averaging 3.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, appearing in 23 games, and starting seven times. Jackson shot .587 (37-63) from the field and led the 49ers with 22 blocked shots. Of his 79 total rebounds, 35 were on the offensive glass, second-best on the squad. Jackson had a career-high of 12 points in two games this season, vs. CS Monterey Bay and at Pacific. In the UOP game, he also added 10 rebounds for his lone double-double of the season. He had nine points and 10 rebounds at home against Portland and he had eight points and four boards at Southern Utah. Jackson recorded multiple blocks in six games this year, including three blocks at home against Idaho and Cal Poly.
Marcel Jackson: Junior Marcel Jackson(Santa Cruz, CA) finished his first year at Long Beach State averaging 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game in 22 contests. He shot .442 (19-43) from the field and .833 (5-6) from the free throw line. Jackson's best game of the year came on Dec. 14 at Loyola Marymount where he had a career-high nine points and seven rebounds. Jackson played a season-best 24 minutes in that contest and was 3-5 from the field and 3-4 at the free throw line. He tallied six points and had six rebounds at home against Utah State and had six points and three rebounds at Gonzaga, in one of his two starts of the season.
Darnell Thompson: Junior guard Darnell Thompson (Riverside, CA) finished his first year averaging 3.8 points and 2.1 assists per game. Thompson finished third on the team with his 46 assists,including a career-best six assists vs. CS Monterey Bay. Thompson scored a career-high 10 points at home against UC Irvine and had nine points at UCLA. Thompson played in 22 games, starting 12 times. He had five assists and six points at UC Riverside and six points and four assists vs. San Diego State. His 16 steals were third on the team as he recorded two steals in four games this year.
Chris Jenkins: Sophomore Chris Jenkins (Albuquerque, NM) finished the year averaging 3.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game in 25 games (11 starts). Jenkins finished fifth on the squad with 33 assists, but struggled in his shooting, connecting on just .292 (35-120) of his field goal attempts. Jenkins scored a season-high 13 points at Idaho (2/13), hitting three of four shots from three-point range. He tallied 10 points and two steals at UCLA and had eight points in a home win over CS Fullerton. At Utah State, he finished with eight points, two assists and a season-high five rebounds. Against Pepperdine in December he had five points, three rebounds and five assists.
Alex Graham: Redshirt freshman Alex Graham (Redlands, CA) played in 19 games this season, earning his first collegiate start in the season finale at UC Irvine. Graham finished the year averaging 2.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game while shooting .516 (16-31) from the field and .692 (9-13) at the free throw line. In the finale at UCI, he finished with four points and a career-high seven rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Over the final three games of the year Graham averaged 19.0 minutes played, 4.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. At UCSB on Feb. 27 he played a season-high 26 minutes, finishing with four points and six rebounds. March 1 at Cal Poly he had six points and four boards. Graham had a season-high eight points at Gonzaga, shooting 4-6 from the field. In the 49ers home win over UCSB he had five rebounds an an assist in 12 minutes as LBSU upset the Gauchos, 68-67.
Travis Clark: Junior walk-on Travis Clark (Carlsbad, CA) played in 17 games, starting five times. He averaged 1.7 points and 0.9 rebounds per game, shooting .320 (8-25) from the field and .611 (11-18) at the free throw line. Clark started in five consecutive games, beginning Jan. 11 at CS Fullerton. He scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed three rebounds on Jan. 9 at UC Riverside. In his first start, at CSF, he finished with six points and one rebound. Clark averaged 11.7 minutes played per game, with his career-high coming at CSF, when he played 30 minutes.
Ulric Pattillo: Freshman walk-on Ulric Pattillo (Harbor City, CA) played in 11 games this season, averaging 0.2 points and 0.5 rebounds per game. He scored one point at Southern Utah and one point at Utah State. He had two rebounds in two games, at home against Portland and at Cal Poly. He saw considerable duty on the trip to UCSB and Cal Poly as he played 12 minutes at UCSB and a career-best 13 minutes at Cal Poly.
Darden Breaks Single Season 3-Point Marks: Senior Tony Darden (Snow Hill, NC) established a new school record as he finished with 79 made three's, breaking the old mark of 73 set by Lucious Harris (2002-03). Darden's 199 attempts this season is also a new school-record, breaking the old mark of 186 set last season by Ron Johnson. His .397 three-point percentage ranks #14 on the single season chart. On the career chart, Darden finished fourth all-time with 139 made three's and fifth-best all-time with 373 attempts.
More On Darden: As well as being a three-point threat, Tony Darden will also find his name on the Long Beach State single season free throw percentage chart. Darden shot an impressive .829 (102-123) from the charity stripe this year, a mark which which tied him for fifth place all-time at LBSU. The school single season record is .861 (130-151), which was set by John Chambers in 1965-66.
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