Seniors Lead 49ers To Win
Kevin Houston Scored a Career-High 22
February 8, 2007 | MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | FINAL | RECORDS | | Long Beach State | 34 | 46 | 80 | 16-6, 7-2 | | Cal Poly | 38 | 39 | 77 | 11-10, 3-5 | Leading Scorers: LBSU: Aaron Nixon 26; CP: Matt Hanson 19
Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Dominique Ricks 12; CP: Matt Hanson 6 | | BOX SCORE |
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA-- Senior Kevin Houston scored a career-high 22 points, including hitting two free throws with 17 seconds remaining, to help lift Long Beach State to an exciting 80-77 win at Cal Poly on Thursday evening at Mott Gym. The win, the third in a row for the 49ers, improved their record to 16-6 overall and kept them in first place in the Big West Conference at 7-2. Cal Poly, which was led by Matt Hanson's career-high 19 points, fell to 11-10 and 3-5 in league play.
Aaron Nixon had a team-high 26 points for the 49ers, adding four assists and a career-high seven steals. Nixon was 5-9 from three-point range. Dominique Ricks finished with his third double-double of the year, tallying 17 points and 12 rebounds. Houston added a career-best eight rebounds and dished out five assists, all in the second half.
After Houston knocked down his two charity tosses, Cal Poly brought the ball down court, but the 49er defense pushed the Mustangs out to the perimeter. With the clock winding down, Sterling Byrd blocked Trae Clark's three-point attempt with five seconds remaining. The 49ers corraled the rebound and ran out the clock. Byrd had jut eight points in the game, but hit two key three's late in the contest.
"They had to go for a three to try to tie it," said 49er Head Coach Larry Reynolds. "We did a good job defensively on that last posession. At the beginning of the game we were so hyper offensivley. We were going way too fast. We've been building for this game all week. Sterling knocked down a couple of huge jumpers there late in the game. Plus, he had six rebounds. Even though he wasn't scoring, he was getting it done in other ways."
Cal Poly shot .460 from the field and got 17 points from senior Derek Stockalper, 12 from Clark and 10 from Chaz Thomas. The Mustangs had 16 turnovers though and were out-rebounded 35-33.
The 49ers shot .492 (30-61) overall for the game and were 10-26 from three-point range. Long Beach finished with 18 turnovers in the contest, but only five in the second half. Ricks led the way with 12 rebounds, Houston had eight and Byrd six.
Trailing at the half by four, the 49ers scored the first six points of the half to take a 42-40 lead. Cal Poly answered though. Trailing 46-45, the Mustangs went on a 12-2 run to take a 57-48 lead with 12:48 remaining. Two Nixon three's cut the deficit to 57-54 and fromthen on it was nip and tuck the rest of the game.
Byrd, who picked up his fourth foul of the game at the 11:43 mark, re-entered the game with 5:31 left and the 49ers trailing 69-66. His first three at 3:11 gave the 49ers a 72-71 lead and his second, at 2:01, gave Long Beach the lead for good at 76-73.
The 49ers started out slowly in the first half, falling behind 23-14 with 10:28 left. Cal Poly pushed the advantage to 36-22 with 3:48 remaining after back-to-back three's by Clark and Thomas, its biggest lead of the half. The tide began turning for the 49ers at the 3:29 mark after an intentional foul was called on the Mustangs Clayton Osborn. Nixon sank both free throw's and then Houston scored eight consecutive points for the 49ers, kocking down two three's and a short jumper. His second three at 1:47 cut the deficit to 36-32. The 49ers trailed 38-34 at the half despite committing 13 turnovers in the half and hitting just four-of 11 three-pointers. Houston tallied 13 first half points and Nixon 11 as the 49ers shot .520 (13-25) from the field in the half. Cal Poly shot .500 (15-30) from the field in the half and were 6-13 from long-range. Clark, Thomas and Stockalper all had eight first half points. Cal Poly also had trouble taking care of the basketball, committing 10 turnovers in the half. Nixon had five steals in the half to go along with his 11 points. The 49ers will next be in action on Saturday, February 10 when they play at UC Santa Barbara at 7:05 pm. The game will be televised live on FSN Prime Ticket.
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