Long Beach State University Athletics
From Moscow With Love; Beach Win Second Straight
1/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Turnoff Vandals 64-60 MOSCOW, ID-- Kevin Roberts had 22 points and Jibril Hodges added 13 to lead Long Beach State to a 64-60 Big West Conference road victory on Thursday night in Moscow, ID. With the win the 49ers (6-11/4-4 Big West) broke a 21-game road losing streak dating back to February of 2002. Idaho (5-12, 2-6) was led by Tanoris Shepard's 13 points. The 49ers trailed 58-54 with 3:38 left to play after a bucket by Shepard, but out-scored the Vandals 10-2 down the stretch. The 49ers limited the Vandals to just one field goal the remainder of the game, a bucket with 19 seconds left by Dandrick Jones. Roberts and Lucian Graham both had four points in the final three minutes of the contest. Graham cut the deficit to 58-56 with a bucket at the 2:15 mark. A Cody Pearson free throw cut the margin to 58-57 with 1:44 left and the 49ers took the lead for good after a three-point play by Roberts with 1:06 on the clock. Graham hit two free throws with 27.3 left and Kevin Houston and Roberts hit solo free throws for the final margin. Houston's charity toss came with 18.7 second left and Roberts' at 7.5. Idaho missed several opportunities to take the lead, but the 49ers crashed the boards hard grabbing five defensive rebounds on the last six Vandal possessions. "I just look at this as another basketball game," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "It's good for the program though to put an end to that streak. It's good for the guys to get some confidence playing on the road. The team did a good job of staying focused. It would have been so easy for us to pack it in when we were down. I thought we played with a lot of confidence even though we weren't defending very well. I'm very happy we held them to 23 points in the first half, fortunately we had enough energy at the end to hold them off." Houston had a solid outing finishing with eight points, three assists and three steals with just one turnover in 34 minutes of action. Marcel Jackson added six points and six rebounds and Graham finished with six as well. Roberts also added six rebounds for the 49ers, to go along with his 22 points, his fourth game with 20-plus points this season. Idaho came out on fire in the second half, out-scoring the 49ers 10-3 in the first six minutes of the half to take a 34-33 lead. That lead grew to five points, 48-43, with 7:52 left before the 49ers chipped away. Jones scored nine of his 11 points in the second half and the Vandals leading scorer Tyrone Hayes, who was held to just two first half points, scored 10 in the second half to finish with 12. Long Beach shot .478 from the field for the game, but struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 16-25 (.640) of its charity tosses. Idaho shot .390 (23-59) for the contest, but were just 2-12 from 3-point range. The two teams finished with 34 rebounds apiece and LBSU committed 17 turnovers. The 49ers played a strong first half, entering the lockerroom with a 30-23 advantage. Roberts, who scored nine of the 49ers first 11 points of the game, had 11 first half points and Hodges eight. With the score tied at 13-13 at the 7:07 mark, the 49ers went on an 11-2 run over the next 3:21 to grab a 24-15 lead. Houston had five points in that run, including a three-pointer at the top of the key and a steal and layup at 3:56 finishing the run. LBSU shot .550 (11-20) from the field while the Vandals shot just .385 (10-26). Both team committed nine first half turnovers. The 49ers continue their trip on Saturday, January 31 when they play at Utah State. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:05 pm Pacific Time and the game can be heard live on KRLA (870 AM) at 6 pm.
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