49ers Fall to Spartans 69-56
Eight-Game Home Win Streak Snapped
December 10, 2005 | MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | F | RECORDS | | San Jose State | 34 | 35 | 69 | 4-5 | | Long Beach State | 28 | 28 | 56 | 2-5 | LEADING SCORERS: LBSU-Houston-16; SJSU-Elam-17
LEADING REBOUNDERS: LBSU-Hawkins-7; SJSU-Barbaray-10 | | BOX SCORE |
LONG BEACH, CA— San Jose State (4-5) seemed to always find an answer whenever Long Beach State (2-5) came to within a basket, defeating the 49ers 69-56 on Saturday afternoon at the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers, who came in averaging 88.7 points per game, scored a season-low in points. It was the team's first loss in nine attempts at the Walter Pyramid, dating back to last season. LBSU shot 36 percent for the game, while the Spartans hit 44 percent of their shots.
"We did not play as well as we had in our previous games," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "But that is what non-conference games are for, to get ourselves tuned and ready to go. We did not play a good all-around game offensively or defensively. A big factor in today's loss is that our guys are going into finals next week and that's making it hard for them to focus on today's game. Today's loss is not anything that we can't bounce back from."
Kevin Houston scored 16 points in the losing effort, hitting 7-of-9 shots, while Aaron Nixon added 13 points and seven rebounds. Alex Elam led all scorers with 17 points for SJSU. Menelik Barbary had 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for SJSU.
The Beach crept to within a basket of the Spartans for much of the second half, before Matt Misko's basket with four minutes left put SJSU 59-52 for good.
A Hawkins three-pointer cut the SJSU lead to 53-52 with 6:45 left, after the Spartans led 53-47 with eight and a half minutes left. Prior, Henderson's running jumper with 12:12 remaining and the shot clock expiring, brought LBSU to within 45-42 after the Spartans opened the half up 45-38.
San Jose State took a 34-28 lead into the break, shooting 46 percent and holding the 49ers to a 32 percent clip. Nixon had 11 first half points for LBSU, while Elam had 12 for SJSU.
The 49ers got back in the contest with an 11-0 run, as a Nixon layup cut the Spartan lead to 26-23 with 3:49 left. San Jose State went on a 16-2 run to lead 26-12 and force a 49er timeout with 7:08 left. Eighteen points came in the paint over the first 13 minutes of the first half.
The 49ers next play a week from Saturday, on December 17, when they travel to Pepperdine for a contest at 7:30 p.m. The 49ers return to the Walter Pyramid on December 22 against University of Maryland-Baltimore County. |
