Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
6-24, 3-13
UC Santa Barbara
23-7, 12-4
Gauchos Win In Overtime
3/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. - LONG BEACH -Donovan Morris scored a career-high 33 points, but UC Santa Barbara hit two free throws with less than one second remaining to come away with a 70-68 overtime win over Long Beach State on Saturday evening at the Walter Pyramid. With the win UCSB (23-7, 12-4 Big West) clinches the Big West Conference regular season title. The 49ers end the regular season at 6-24 and 3-13 in league action.
Long Beach sent the game into overtime in dramatic fashion. Trailing 61-55 with 1:14 left, the 49ers rallied to tie the game at 64-64. The game-tying shot came via a long three-pointer by Morris with just under nine seconds left on the clock. UCSB's Alex Harris missed a jumper at the buzzer.
In overtime, the 49ers led 68-66 after a Cornel Williams lay-up off a Morris assist. UCSB would tie the contest at 68-68 with 1:26 left as James Powell scored on a lay-up. The 49ers had two shots to pull ahead, but missed both field goal attempts. The second came with just three seconds left on the game clock, but the 49ers retained the ball after UCSB knocked it out of bounds. There was less than one-tenth of a second left on the shot clock, and after a 49er timeout, Greg Plater was called for a shot-clock violation, turning the ball over to UCSB.
The Gauchos threw the ball three-quarters length and Chris Devine came up with the ball, took a dribble and put up a shot, but he was fouled by Maurice Clady. After Devine missed his first free throw, the 49ers called a timeout, but they had none remaining, resulting in a technical foul. Harris then hit one-of-two charity tosses to give UCSB a 69-68 lead with less than a second left. Devine hit his next free throw to make the score 70-68. Plater's long attempt hit the backboard and fell to the court.
Morris, who fouled out of the game with 2:40 left in overtime, also added five assists and seven rebounds while shooting 4-8 from three-point range. Williams added 14 points and Plater 10 as the 49ers shot .467 (21-45) from the field and were 19-25 (.760) at the free throw line. The 49ers forced 18 UCSB turnovers in the gae.
Harris led the Gauchos with 21 points, Devine had 17 points and seven boards and Ivan Elliott had 12 points. The Gauchos shot .511 (23-45) from the field and out-rebounded the 49ers 27-to-23.
UCSB will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Big West Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center and will play on Friday at 6 pm. The 49ers will play on Wednesday, but don't know their seed. They can still be the seven seed if UC Davis beats UC Riverside this evening.
