Long Beach State University
5-6
Temple
5-5
Long Beach State Tops Temple, 76-71
12/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Donovan Morris, T.J. Robinson and Stephan Gilling combined to score 56 points to lead Long Beach State past Temple 76-71 Monday night at the Walter Pyramid.
Morris paced The Beach scoring 23 points while grabbing nine boards and handing out five assists. He connected on 7-of-13 shots from the field including 2-of-6 from 3-point range. He snapped out of a two-game shooting slum p that saw him combine for 4-of-22 shooting, including 0-for-12 from three, in back-to-back losses to Syracuse and Montana State.
Robinson, a freshman, came off the bench to score 18 points and grab seven rebounds, five on the offensive end as LBSU (5-6) out-rebounded the bigger and more athletic Owls (5-5) 31-30. Robinson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.
Gilling heated up in the second half as well scoring 10 of his 15 points. He made three 3s after the break. A 58-percent free throw shooter heading into the game, he made all six of his shots from the charity stripe including four in the final 1 minute and 52 seconds.
"I'm very proud that they want to fix things," Coach Dan Monson said after LBSU snapped a four-game losing streak. "They worked hard to try and fix things. I thought it was our best preparation and execution of a game plan that we have had all year.
"We stayed in sets longer," Monson continued. "We were just more disciplined that we have been."
Temple jumped out to an early 18-10 lead behind 7-footer Sergio Olmos, who scored 8 of his 13 points in the first half before heading to the bench for the rest of the half after picking up his second personal foul with more than 7 minutes to play.
The Beach charged back going on a 27-5 run in the final 6:10 of the half, including an 11-2 run over the last 12-2 run in the last 4:42, to take a 27-23 lead into the break.
After seeing LBSU score the first basket of the second half, the Owls surged back with a 7-0 run in just over a minute to tie the game at 30.
The 49ers responded with a run of their own, scoring the next 10 points to push the lead to double digits, 40-30 with 13:22 to play, for the first time. Long Beach State pushed the lead to as many as 13, 59-46 with 6:38 to play, and didn't let the Owls get closer than eight, until the final 1:00 of the game.
The Owls, who beat nationally-ranked Tennessee 88-72 on Dec. 13, weren't done. T.J. Dileo canned a 3-pointer and was fouled by Casper Ware with one minute to play to cut the lead to seven, 71-64. Dileo missed the free throw, but the ball was tipped to Dionte Christmas (19 points) in the corner where he drilled another 3-pointer to pull Temple within four, 71-67, with 56 seconds to play.
The Beach responded making 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to clinch the win and snap a four-game skid.
