Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Fall At Pacific
2/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | OT | FINAL | RECORDS |
| Long Beach State | 30 | 25 | - | 55 | 5-17, 2-8 |
| Pacific | 40 | 30 | - | 70 | 17-6, 8-2 |
| Leading Scorers: LBSU: Donovan Morris 30; UOP: Michael Kirby 12 Leading Rebounders: LBSU: Brian Freeman 5; UOP: Bryan LeDuc 6 | |||||
| BOX SCORE | |||||
STOCKTON -- Donovan Morris scored 30 points, including hitting five three-pointers, but Long Beach State couldn't overcome the balance of the University of the Pacific as the Tigers defeated the 49ers 70-55 on Saturday evening at the Spanos Center. Pacific, who stands in first place in the Big West Conference, improved to 17-6 overall and 8-2 in the Big West. The 49ers fell to 5-17 and 2-8 in league play.
Arturas Lazdauskas had a career-high tying 10 points for the 49ers, before fouling out with 4:42 left in the contest. Brandon Johnson had five points as the 49ers shot .404 (19-47) from the field, but knocked down eight three-pointers. Long Beach had just 13 turnovers in the contest and were out-rebounded by just one, 30-29. Brian Freeman led the 49ers with five rebounds and Maurice Clady dished out a team-high four assists.
Michaell Kirby led Pacific's balanced attack with 12 points. Stefan Johnson added 11 points and nine assists and Anthony Brown finished with 10. The Tigers shot .540 (27-50) from the field for the game and committed just eight turnovers. The Tigers did struggle from long-range, hitting six-of-17 (.353) treys and were 10-18 (.556) at the free throw line.
The 49ers battled back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to put a big scare in the Tigers. Trailing 50-38 at 15:37, the 49ers went on an 11-4 run to pull to within 54-49 with 11:27 left to play. Morris scored all 11 points in that span for the 49ers. But the Tigers responded with a 10-3 run to take a 64-52 lead at 5:49. The 49ers had a dry spell in the second half, not scoring for seven minutes and 35 seconds as Pacific pushed a 58-52 advantage to 67-52 with 2:05 remaining. Long Beach scored just three points in the final 9:42 of the game.
In the first half, Pacific shot .615 (16-26) from the field as they took a 40-30 lead into the lockerroom. The Tigers used a couple of 8-0 runs to take a double-digit lead. The second run gave the Tigers a 24-10 lead with 11:46 remaining. At that point, Morris took over for the 49ers. He hit four consecutive three-pointer's to lead a 12-6 run, pulling the 49ers to within 30-22 with 7:37 left. Morris had 16 points in the opening stanza, hitting four-of-seven shots from long-range. Lazdauskas had eight first half points as Long Beach shot .407 (11-27) from the field. The 49ers out-rebounded the Tigers 15-to-12 in the first half as Freeman and Clady each grabbed three boards. Pacific was able to take advantage of 18 points in the paint in the half, while scoring 12 points off eight 49er turnovers.
The 49ers will next be in action on Wednesday, February 13 when they host UC Riverside at 7 pm in the Walter Pyramid.
