Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Rolls Past SJSU
11/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Roll Past San Jose State
Long Beach Shoots .606 In Second Half
November 15, 2006
| MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | FINAL | RECORDS |
| Long Beach State | 36 | 50 | 86 | 1-1 |
| San Jose State | 29 | 38 | 67 | 0-3 |
| Leading Scorers: LBSU: Byrd-20; SJSU: Pierce-19 Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Ricks-10; SJSU: Woodridge, 10 | ||||
| BOX SCORE | ||||
PALO ALTO, CA-- Sterling Byrd scored a career-high 20 points and Long Beach State shot .606 (20-33) from the field in the second half en route to an 86-67 win over San Jose State in the consolation game of the CBE Classic in Palo Alto. The 49ers improve to 1-1 on the season while the Spartans fall to 0-3.
Leading 36-29 at the half, the 49ers turned up its defensive pressure to begin the second half. After a three by the Spartans Jamon Hill at 19:35 cut the 49er lead to 36-32, Long Beach went on a 12-0 run over the next 2:21 to take a 48-32 lead. During that run, Byrd had eight points. He knocked down a three, converted on a follow shot and then recorded a three-point play. After Kejuan Johnson knocked down a three at 14:45, the 49ers led 57-38. Long Beach opened up the first five minutes of the half with a 21-9 outburst.
"I thought our guys did a very good job on the boards," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "I was pretty pleased with our performance and overall game. We did a better job tonight of getting into rhythm in the game. We did a good job on getting the game up-tempo."
Aaron Nixon chipped in with 19 points and seven rebounds, Dominique Ricks had a double-double with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and Johnson was the fourth 49er in double digits with 13 points. Long Beach shot .606 (20-33) from the field in the second half after hitting just 14-42 (.333) shots in the opening stanza. Overall, the 49ers shot .453 (34-75) from the field for the game. The 49ers also out-rebounded the Spartans 43 to 41. After Ricks' 10 boards, Nixon had seven and Byrd and Johnson six apiece.
Tim Pierce led SJSU with 19 points and Hill and Kerry Wooldridge each had 12 points. The Spartans shot .333 (19-57) from the field for the game and committed 22 turnovers.
Long Beach led the majority of the first half despite shooting just .333 from the field. Byrd had 12 first half points and the 49ers forced 14 Spartan turnovers. Long Beach picked up 25 of its 43 rebounds in the first half.
The 49ers took care of the basketball throughout, finishing with just 13 turnovers. Kevin Houston had a season-high eight assists to go along with his six points. Mark Dawson added six points off the bench and freshman Tim Island scored five points in his first collegiate game.
The 49ers will next be in action on Friday, November 17 when they host Cal State Bakersfield at 7:35 pm in the Walter Pyramid.
