Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Rout UCI
3/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Roll Past UCI In Second Half
IRVINE, CA— Aaron Nixon scored 24 points and Long Beach State rallied from an early 21-point first half deficit to defeat UC Irvine 93-73 on Saturday evening at the Bren Events Center. With the win, the 49ers fifth in a row, Long Beach finishes in third place in the Big West Conference at 9-5 and stands at 16-11 overall. UCI falls to 16-12 and 10-4 in league action. UCI came out hot, hitting its first seven three-pointers of the game. The Anteaters held a 31-10 lead after Dustin Price's three with 11:54 left in the half. From that point on it was all Long Beach State. The 49ers went on a 17-2 run over the next seven-plus minutes to pull to within 33-27 with 5:12 remaining. The 49ers eventually got to within 39-38 before UCI closed out the half with a 7-2 run to take a 46-40 halftime lead. Ross Schraeder was a perfect four-of-four from three-point range and scored 16 of his team-high 25 points in the first half. UCI shot .571 (16-28) from the field and were 10-18 (.556) from three-point range. The 49ers got 11 first half points from Shawn Hawkins, but Long Beach hit just three-of-14 shots from long-range. The 49ers came out on fire in the second half. Shooting .647 (22-34) from the field in the half, the 49ers out-scored UCI 53-27 in the half. Nixon tallied 16 of his 24 points in the second half. Five 49ers hit double digits as Mark Dawson added 12 points, Kejuan Johnson had 12 and Louis Darby added 10 off the bench. Defense was key for the 49ers as they forced 22 UCI turnovers, 15 in the second half alone. The 49ers recorded 16 steals in the contest, three each by Hawkins and Dawson. Long Beach had a season-low five turnovers. With the game tied at 61-61 with 11:45 remaining, the 49ers took control of the contest. Long Beach went on a 12-0 run as Nixon and Darby both had four points. After UCI cut the margin to 75-66 with 7:20 left, Long Beach used a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Hawkins' three-pointer to take an 82-66 lead. After trailing 31-10 in the early going, the 49ers out-scored the Anteaters 83-42 in the final 32 minutes of the contest. The 49ers will next be in action at the Big West Conference Tournament. Finishing third allowed the 49ers a first round bye. They will play on Thursday night at 6 pm against the winner of Wednesday's contest between Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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