Long Beach State University Athletics
Pacific Nips 49ers in the End
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Tigers Nip 49ers in the End, 78-72
LONG BEACH, CA-- Despite 12 of Aaron Nixon's team-high 17 points in the second half, the University of Pacific (11-5, 2-1 Big West) came back from a five point deficit with under five minutes remaining and defeated host Long Beach State (6-8, 1-2 Big West) 78-72 on Friday evening. Kejuan Johnson fouled out with 15 points and Mark Dawson was perfect from the field, going 5-for-5 for a career-best 10 points, but a 13-0 run late in the contest by the Tigers proved to be the difference. "We had some good looks. We had the shots we wanted, they just didn't go down," said Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "We played well all the way up until the three-minute mark. When you are playing a good team, you have to play all the way until the end. They made the big plays at the end, and we didn't." Christian Maraker had a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds for UOP, while Johnny Gray added 20 points as well, as the Tigers shot 48 percent for the game. LBSU converted 43 percent, and took a five-point lead with 4:25, but watched it whittle away thanks to some lucky breaks by the Tigers. With a basket in the first half, Jibril Hodges became the 15th player to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He finished with five points on the night. Gray went 4-for-4 at the free throw line on consecutive possessions, to give UOP a 75-67 lead with 1:00 left. Gray was the benefactor of a foul on the wing with the shotclock running down and an offensive foul on the 49er end within a span of 10 seconds to turn the momentum towards UOP. The free throws capped a 13-0 run over a 3:25 stretch to erase a five-point lead by The Beach. Pacific took its first lead since the midway point of the second half after two Anthony Brown free throws at 2:43 capped a 6-0 run by UOP to lead 68-67. A Gray three-pointer extended it further to 71-67 moments later. This was after Johnson's jumper gave LBSU a 67-62 lead with 4:25 left. Nixon found some answers early in the second half. A Nixon three-pointer gave LBSU a 59-55 lead with 8:41 left, after a Hawkins putback put the 49ers up 56-54 with 9:57 remaining. Kevin Houston's three-pointer, extended the lead, and forced a Tiger timeout after LBSU went up 62-57 with 8:15 left. LBSU opened the half of a tear, taking a 43-41 lead with 17:47 left thanks to an 8-2 run, with five points coming from Nixon. Both teams then remained close for the next eight minutes. The 49ers did not allow a field goal for the final 4:47 of the first half, as The Beach used an 8-2 run to end the half to claw back to within 39-35. LBSU shot 42 percent, compared to a 49 percent clip for UOP. The Tigers used 13-4 run to lead 37-27 on a Mike Webb layup at 4:47 after a Nixon jumper at 8:02 cut the 49er deficit to 24-23. The 49ers are next in action on Sunday when they host Cal State Northridge at 2 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
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