Houston's Shot Lifts 49ers To Victory
Jibril Hodges Scores 17 In Win
March 5, 2005 | MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | OT | F | RECORDS | | UC Santa Barbara | 30 | 27 | -- | 57 | 10-17, 7-11 | | Long Beach State | 23 | 35 | -- | 58 | 10-19, 7-11 | LEADING SCORERS:
LBSU: Jibril Hodges 17; UCSB: Derek Rasp 12
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
LBSU: Cody Pearson 7 UCSB: Oliver Chrismen, Glenn Turner 6 | | BOX SCORE |
LONG BEACH, CA-- Kevin Houston's driving lay-up with 2.5 seconds left on the clock proved to be the winning points as Long Beach State came from behind to defeat UC Santa Barbara 58-57 at The Pyramid on Saturday night in front of a season-high 2,967 fans. The 49ers, who have won seven of their last eight games, are 10-19 overall and finished 7-11 in Big West.
Jibril Hodges led the 49ers with 17 points, including hitting 5-9 shots from three-point range. Four of his five three's came in the second half. Louis Darby added eight points and Shawn Hawkins had eight as well. Senior Cody Pearson, in his last game in The Pyramid, finished with six points, a team-high seven rebounds and four assists. Houston added six assists to go along with his six points.
"Being down 13 points, we had to execute our offense," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "We needed to turn up our defensive intensity and make some opportunities to score. The last play, we had two plays drawn up, one if he made the free throw and one if he missed. The guys did a great job of executing the play to get the basket. Jibril hit some huge baskets for us. And when Cody hit his first three, you could feel The Pyramid forces around us."
Trailing 37-24 after two Chrismen Oliver free throws at 17:46 in the second half, the 49ers chipped away and were able to finally tie the game 43-43 on a three-pointer by Cody Pearson at 9:21. After a Hodges three-pointer at 6:33 tied the game again, this time at 48-48, the Gauchos got a basket by Derek Rasp and a lay-up by Joe See to take a 52-48 lead with 4:38 left.
Long Beach took its first lead of the second half on a long three-pointer by Hawkins, staking LBSU to a 53-52 lead at 1:54. Two free throws by Rasp and two by Josh Davis, the latter at 0:39 gave UCSB a 56-53 lead. Hodges then drained a three from the corner to tie the game with 0:27 left.
After a timeout, the Gauchos got the ball to Josh Davis who was fouled by Darby on his way to the basket. Davis missed the first free throw and the 49ers then called their final time-out. Davis knocked down the second to give UCSB a 57-56 lead. Long Beach quickly in-bounded the basketball to Anthony Coleman on the wing, who passed the ball to Hodges who found a cutting Houston to the basket.
The 49ers will next be in action on Wednesday, March 9 at the Big West Conference Tournament. Their opponent will probably bee UCSB, but the 49ers will know for sure on Sunday. |
