Nixon's Shot Wins it at the Buzzer
Beach Remain in First with 68-67 Win
February 10, 2007 BOX SCORE SANTA BARBARA, CA-- For the second time this season, and the third time in his 49er career, Aaron Nixon hit a game-winning shot at the end of a game. Nixon's long two-pointer with just four-tenth's of a second left on the clock lifted Long Beach State to a 68-67 win at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday evening. The win, which kept the 49ers in first place in the league standings, improved the 49ers record to 17-6 overall and 8-2 in the Big West. UCSB fell to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in league.
The 49ers trailed the majority of the second half. UCSB used two separate 10-2 runs to open up 10-point leads. The final 10-2 run came with 6:56 remaining giving UCSB a 64-54 lead. The 49ers came right back with a 12-0 run to take a 66-64 lead at 1:46 after two Kejuan Johnson free throws. The Gauchos tied the game at 66-66 with 1:27 remaining before Nixon's heroics at
the buzzer.
Johnson, in his first game back after a three-game suspension, tallied 22 points to lead the 49ers. Sterling Byrd had 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, including 14 second half points. Nixon finished with 14 points and Kevin Houston 11. The 49ers shot just .418 (23-55) from the field for the game and weree 8-23 from three-point range.
"The guys know who to get the ball to in that situation," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds, referring to Nixon. "Aaron has been great for us in those situations. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively, except for a couple of transition buckets, in the second half. And, Sterling Byrd did a great job for us, especially in the second half."
The Gauchos shot .510 (25-49) from the field for the game, but committed 17 turnovers. Cecil Brown led UCSB with 18 oints, hitting four-of-seven three's. James Powell added 11 points and Chris Devine and Ivan Elliott each had 10 points. Alex Harris, the Gauchos
leading scorer, was held to nine points in the game, but did not score in the second half.
The 49ers led the first part of the first half, but UCSB used some potent outside shooting to take a 38-28 halftime lead. The 49ers led 14-11 after a Johnson three at 11:32. But, the Gauchos would hit three consecutive three's, two by Brown and one by Harris,
to grab a 20-14 lead at 8:59. UCSB shot .542 (13-24) from the field in the half and were a perfect 6-6 from three-point range. Brown tallied 12 first half points for the Gauchos, who kept the 49ers in the game by committing 10 turnovers. Johnson did his part to spark
the 49er offense, scoring 13 first half points. The 49ers were just 11-29 (.379) from the field and 3-11 (.273) from three-point range. Nixon was just 1-8 from the field in the half and didn't score until his three-point play with 57 seconds left on the clock.
The 49ers will next be in action on Wednesday, February 14 when they play at Cal State Fullerton at 7 pm at Titan Gym. |
