Pacific Slips Past 49ers In Title Game
Hawkins Scores Career-High 27 In Loss
March 11, 2006 | MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | F | RECORDS | | Long Beach State | 36 | 34 | 70 | 18-12 | | Pacific | 42 | 36 | 78 | 24-7 | LBSU Leading Scorer: Shawn Hawkins (27)
UOP Leading Scorer: Christian Maraker (23)
LBSU Leading Rebounder: Mark Dawson (15)
UOP Leading Rebounder: Christian Maraker (11) | | BOX SCORE |
ANAHEIM, CA— Shawn Hawkins scored a career-high 27 points but Pacific was able to pull away in the final eight minutes of the game and held on for a 78-70 win over Long Beach State (18-12) in the championship game of the 2006 Big West Conference Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center. Christian Maraker led the Tigers (24-7) with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
With the game tied at 57 with 11:07 remaining, the 49ers hit a dry spell scoring just 13 points the remainder of the contest. Pacific went on a 12-3 run over a five-minute span to push the Tiger advantage to 69-60 with 6:02 remaining. The 49ers pulled to within 70-65 with 3:40 left after a three-pointer by Aaron Nixon, but the Tigers got back-to-back layups by Michael White to push the lead to 74-66.
Nixon finished with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists and Mark Dawson had 15 rebounds to go along with seven points and two blocks.
Tournament MVP Johnny Gray finished with 21 points and five assists, Michael White had 11 points and Steffan Johnson had 10 points and four assists.
Pacific shot an impressive .592 (29-49) from the field and were 10-24 (.417) from three-point range. The Tigers committed 12 turnovers while the 49ers had just six. Long Beach struggled from the field, shooting .333 (25-75) from the field and 13-34 (.382) from three-point range. Hawkins was five-of-eight from long range and Nixon knocked down four. The Tigers did a great job defensively on Jibril Hodges limiting him to just three points.
Pacific broke open a 17-16 game with a 13-4 run to take a 30-20 lead with 6:43 left in the half. That lead grew to 42-28 with 2:35 left before the 49ers got a three from Kejuan Johnson, a layup by Hawkins and a three by Nixon to pull to within 42-36 at the half.
Long Beach took its first lead of the second half at 52-50 with 14:01 remaining on a three by Hodges. The last lead for Long Beach State was 55-53 after a Nixon three at 13:04.
The 49ers concluded their season at 18-12 overall. Nixon and Hawkins were both named to the all-tournament team. The 18 wins is the most for a Long Beach State squad since the 2000-01 team finished at 18-13. The Big West championship appearance was the first for the 49ers since they won the 1995 title in Las Vegas, NV.
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