Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Fall To USC
11/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Fall To USC
Long Beach Scores A Season-Low 61 Points
November 24, 2006
| MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | FINAL | RECORDS |
| Long Beach State | 26 | 35 | 61 | 2-2 |
| USC | 32 | 47 | 79 | 3-1 |
| Leading Scorers: LBSU: Aaron Nixon 13; USC: Nick Young 22 Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Dominique Ricks 11; USC: Taj Gibson 18 | ||||
| BOX SCORE | ||||
LOS ANGELES, CA-- The University of Southern California had four players tally in double digits on Friday night en route to a 79-61 win over Long Beach State at the Galen Center. Nick Young led the USC (3-1) attack with 22 points while Taj Gibson added 10 points and 18 rebounds. Aaron Nixon led the 49ers (2-2) with 13 points.
The Trojans expanded a six-point lead to double digits early in the second half and never looked back. Lodrick Stewart added 16 points for USC and RouSean Cromwell had 13 points. USC shot .435 (27-62) from the field and out-rebounded the 49ers 58-44. The Trojans hurt themselves though by shooting just 21-35 (.600) at the free throw line.
For the 49ers, freshman Tim Island had a career-high 12 points, hitting four of seven three-pointers. Kevin Houston added 11 points and Dominique Ricks had six points and a team-high 11 rebounds . The 49ers leading scorer, Nixon at 19.3 ppg, was held to 13 points, while Sterling Byrd, who was averaging 17.0 points per outing, was held scoreless.
USC opened the second half with a quick 7-0 run in the opening two minutes of the half to take a 39-26 lead. USC expanded its advantage to 60-36 after a Lodrick Stewart three at 11:35.
The Trojans took advantage of cold 49er shooting to take a 32-26 halftime lead. The 49ers shot just .281 (9-32) from the field in the first half and were 5-15 from three-point range. Young scored 10 of his 22 points in the first half and Gibson added eight points and 11 rebounds. Trailing 27-26 after a Houston three at 1:49, the Trojans closed out the half on a 5-0 run thanks to two free throws by Kevin Galloway and a three by Young. USC shot .433 (13-30) overall but hurt themselves with 10 turnovers and hitting just half their free throws (4-8).
The 49ers will next be in action on Tuesday, November 28 when they play at No. 5-ranked UCLA at 7:30 pm at Pauley Pavilion.
