Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers vs. UCI
1/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach Falls At UCI
IRVINE, CA-- Chuma Awaji hit six-of-six free throws in the final 15.3 seconds of the game to lift UC Irvine to an 88-84 win over Long Beach State on Thursday evening. The Anteaters had six players score in double figures, led by 15 points for Mark Kelley. UCI improves to 10-11 overall and 4-3 in the Big West. Long Beach State, which got 23 points from Kejuan Johnson, fell to 13-6 and 4-2 in league action. Patrick Sanders had 14 points for the Anteaters, Nic Campbell 13 and Darren Fells and Michael Hunter 12 apiece. Aaron Nixon had 19 points for the 49ers while Sterling Byrd had 12 and Louis Darby and Mark Dawson each contributed 10 points. "It's tough when you're on the road against good teams, to get down by 25 points," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "You're just asking for trouble. The kids came back with a good effort in the second half. We made some adjustments defensively and that helped. But, we've got to come out better to begin the game." The 49ers made a game of it in the second half coming out of the halftime lockerroom strong. Long Beach used a 13-5 run in the opening 4:11 to pull to within 54-46. The 49ers pulled to within one point, 71-70, at 6:11 on a bucket by Dawson. The Anteaters pushed the lead to 80-72 at 2:05 after a three-pointer by Hunter which just beat the shot clock buzzer. Long Beach would get to within one point again, 82-81, after a Johnson three with 30.8 seconds remaining. The 49ers had the ball with just under 30 seconds remaining after a UCI turnover in the backcourt, but Long Beach turned the ball right back to the Anteaters. After two charity tosses by Awaji at 15.3 seconds, UCI went up 84-81. The 49ers came down the court, but Johnson lost possession of the ball momentarily and fell to the ground to recover the ball, calling a timeout. But, the 49ers didn't have any timeouts remaining and Long Beach was assessed a technical foul. Awaji hit the two free throws to extend the lead to 86-81 with 6.8 seconds left. The 49ers shot .462 from the field overall, including .600 (18-30) in the second half. UCI cooled off some after a torrid first half, but ended up shooting .517 (30-58) overall. UCI out-rebounded the 49ers 37-29 and were 19-26 at the free throw line. Long Beach went to the line just 13 times, connecting on 11 attempts. The Anteaters came out of the gate hot from the field jumping to a quick 12-3 lead in the opening four minutes of the game. UCI shot an impressive .621 (18-29) from the field and were six-of-nine from three-point range. The Anteaters pushed the lead to 41-16 at the 7:18 mark after a jumper by Patrick Sanders. The 49ers, who got nine first half points from Johnson on three three-pointers, cut the deficit to 49-33 at the half. Long Beach used a 14-6 run over the final 4:39 of the half. Long Beach shot .just .343 (12-35) from the field and were 7-17 (.412) from long-range. Of Long Beach's 12 first half field goals, seven were from three-point range. Templeton and Kelley both had 10 first half points for UCI. The Anteaters out-rebounded the 49ers 20-14 and each team turned the ball over nine times. The 49ers will next be in action on Thursday, February 1 when they host Cal Staet Northridge at 7:05 pm at the Walter Pyramid. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
