49ers Roll Past UC Davis On Homecoming
Nixon Leads The Way With 27 Points
February 24, 2007 | MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | FINAL | RECORDS | | UC Davis | 38 | 39 | 77 | 4-22 | | Long Beach State | 52 | 50 | 102 | 19-7 | Leading Scorers: LBSU:Nixon-27; UCD: Oliver-15
Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Dawson-5; UCD: Three with five | | BOX SCORE |
LONG BEACH, CA-- Aaron Nixon lead the way with 27 points as Long Beach State (19-7) defeated UC Davis (4-22) 102-77, in a early afternoon contest at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach has won their last six of seven games and clinched at least share of the Big West Conference Championship.
Kejuan Johnson added 19 points and Kevin Houston contributed 16 points, and both had six assists, as the 49ers shot .667 (42-63) percent from the field,a season-high. Sterling Byrd added 15 points as the 49ers had four players hit double digits in points.
Long Beach clinched no worse that a tie for the Big West Championship on Saturday after both CS Fullerton and Pacific lost their games. The 49ers will be the #1 seed at the Big West Tournament and have a bye until Friday's semi-finals. The win also clinched at least an invitation to the NIT as well, by virtue of winning the league title.
Vince Oliver lead the Aggies with 15 points and five assists and Dominic Calegari added 12 and Kyle Brucculeri 10, as UCD shot .463 (25-54) percent from the field, but committed 20 turnovers.
The 49ers jumped to an early 7-0 lead in the opening four minutes into the game. With 12:42 left, The Beach extended it's lead to an 18-8 advantage as Nixon made two free throws. Leading by just seven points, 35-28, with 4:54 left in the half, the 49ers started to pull away by using a 14-6 streak to open up a 49-34 lead. The 49ers eventually led 52-38 at the half as Nixon scored 18 of his game-high 27 in the opening stanza.
"I'm happy the guys came out with fire and enthusiasm," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "We played well overall as the players took control of the game. We were not happy with our last performance. The guys wanted to prove that's not the way they play. We knew Davis would play tough, we had to stay focused."
"We wanted to play like champions," said Nixon. "We want to go into the Big West Tournament with a winning streak."
Leading 52-38 at the half, after shooting a blistering .770 (21-30), the 49ers saw the Aggies go on a 9-2 run to open the second half, cutting the deficit to 54-47. From that point on it was all Long Beach as the 49ers turned up their defense. The 49ers went on a 15-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 69-47 lead with 14:32 remaining. The Beach will next be in action this Monday as they travel to Pacific for a 9 p.m. telecast on ESPN2.
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