Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
1-5
Saint Louis
6-3
49er Comeback Falls Short
12/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
49ers Comeback Falls Short
Morris Scores 14 Points
December 1, 2007
| MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | OT | FINAL | RECORDS |
| Long Beach State | 17 | 31 | - | 48 | 1-5 |
| Saint Louis | 22 | 30 | - | 52 | 6-3 |
| Leading Scorers: LBSU: Donovan Morris 14; SLU: Barry Eberhardt 9 Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Freeman/Johnson 7; SLU: Luke Meyer 8 | |||||
| BOX SCORE | |||||
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Maybe the cold weather had something to do with it, or maybe it was the ice rink under the court, but Long Beach State could not get anything going offensively until mid-way through the second half as they fell 52-48 on Saturday afternoon at Scottrade Center to Saint Louis University. Donovan Morris led the 49ers (1-5) with 14 points and Brian Freeman added 11. Barry Eberhardt led the Billikens (6-3) with nine points.
The 49ers had a couple of chances to win the contest after battling back from a 15-point deficit in the second half. Saint Louis used a 9-0 run early in the half to expand a 29-23 lead to 38-23 at 13:08 after a Kevin Lisch three. But from there the 49ers fought back. A Brandon Johnson three at 8:21 capped a 12-2 49er run to pull Long Beach to within 40-35. Morris then knocked down his third three of the half at 5:54 to bring the 49ers to within one point, 44-43. Morris' shot finished off a 20-6 run for Long Beach.
The 49ers took their only lead of the game with two minutes left, 48-47, on two Freeman free throws. Freeman scored all 11 of his points in the second half, while Morris had 12 of his 14. Lisch regained the lead for SLU with two charity tosses at 1:45. After a couple of missed possessions by both teams, the 49ers had the ball with under a minute to go, down by just one, 49-48. Artis Gant, who had 10 points, was called for a travel with 0:39 on the clock. The 49ers then fouled Dwayne Polk, who missed the front end of a one-and-one, but SLU grabbed the offensive rebound. Long Beach then fouled Lisch at 16.4, who hit the first charity but missed the second giving SLU a 50-48 lead. After a 49er timeout at 9.7 seconds, Maurice Clady took a short jumper in the lane and missed. The rebound came out long and Gant grabbed the ball and put it back in, but Gant was called for pushing off and the game-tying basket was disallowed.
In a sloppy first half, the Billikens forced 11 49er turnovers and led 22-17 at the break. The 49ers fell behind 6-0 early on and didn't score their first points of the game until the 13:45 mark on a short jumper by Morris. Fortunately for Long Beach the 49ers trailed just 6-2 as Saint Louis struggled from the field as well. The 49ers finally put together two baskets in a row as Morris hit a three and Gant a floater in the lane to pull to within 15-13 with 4:57 remaining. The Billikens responded with five straight points, but Gant then scored four straight points to pull the 49ers to within 20-17 at 1:20. Gant had eight first half points as the 49ers shot .412 (7-17) from the field and hit just one three-pointer in eight attempts. SLU hit 9-of-26 (.346) shots in the half.
The 49ers shot .450 (18-40) from the field for the game, but committed 18 turnovers. The 49ers went to the free throw line just six times in the contest, making five. Johnson had one of his better outings for the 49ers finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Saint Louis did not have anyone score in double digits in the contest and shot .385 (20-52) from the field and 4-14 (.286) from three-point range.
The 49ers return home on Wednesday, December 5 when they host Loyola Marymount at 7:05 pm in the Walter Pyramid.
