Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Fall To Air Force
11/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Fall To Air Force In Opener
Sterling Byrd Scores Career-High 16 Points
November 14, 2006
| MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | FINAL | RECORDS |
| Long Beach St. | 25 | 43 | 68 | 0-1 |
| Air Force | 30 | 39 | 69 | 2-0 |
| Leading Scorers: LBSU: Nixon-17; AFA: Burtschi-22 Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Nixon-9; AFA: McCraw-8 | ||||
| BOX SCORE | ||||
PALO ALTO, CA-- Dan Nwaelele hit two free throws with four seconds left to give Air Force a 69-65 lead, and the Falcons held on from there to claim a 69-68 win over Long Beach State in the opening round of the CBE Classic at Maples Pavilion. Aaron Nixon led the 49ers with 17 points and Sterling Byrd had a career-high 16 points.
The 49ers were 5-9 at the charity stripe in the final minute of the game which led to troubles at the end of the game. Air Force, which improved to 2-0 with the win, was able to shut down the 49ers offensive break and limited the 49ers to a .422 (27-64) field goal percentage. Long Beach was able to use its superior athletic ability to force 19 Air Force turnovers to stay in the contest.
"It was a hard-fought game," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "Give credit to Air Force for their play. We weren't very successful in scoring the basketball in the first half."
In the first half, the 49ers were just 10-32 (.313) from the field, but trailed only 30-25. In the opening half, both Nixon and Kejuan Johnson were held scoreless and they were a combined 0-15 from the field. Byrd had seven first half points and Kevin Houston six. Air Force shot an impressive 11-21 (.524) from the field and were 5-9 from three-point range, but had 14 first half turnovers.
Long Beach took the lead in the second half, 37-34, at the 15:51 mark on a three-pointer by Byrd. That capped an 8-0 49er run. The lead see-sawed back and forth, as there were eight ties in the second half. The last 49er lead was 54-52 with 4:42 remaining.
Jacob Burtuschi led the Falcons with 22 points, while Nwaelele added 19. The Falcons shot .478 (22-46) from the field for the game and won the battle of the boards, 39-37. Matt MaCraw led the way with eight boards.
Nixon scored all 17 of his points in the second half, and added nine rebounds and four assists. Byrd chipped in with six rebounds and Houston finished with 11 points. The 49ers led 14-9 at the 11:46 mark in the first half, only to see the Falcons go on a 15-0 run to take a 24-14 lead at 8:27. Houston broke the streak by knocking down a three at 6:27 to pull the 49ers to within 24-17.
The 49ers will play in the consolation game on Wednesday at 5 pm against the loser of tonight's second game beteween San Jose State and Stanford.
