Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach men get a statement win at Pacific
1/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. - STOCKTON, Calif. - Long Beach State turned Thursday night's game at Pacific into a statement game.
The 49ers (8-7, 3-0 Big West) outscored Pacific (8-5, 1-1 Big West) 42-27 in the second half en route to an impressive 74-64 win at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
"Any road win is huge in league play," 49er coach Dan Monson said. "That separates teams, whoever can hold serve at home and scrap wins on the road, and to play at a quality place like this is a huge win for us. Our team really grew today."
Stephan Gilling led the Beach scoring 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Donovan Morris added 14 points, 12 in the second half.
"That is what Steph does," Monson said. "Everybody has to know their roll and you got to know your game and Steph hit some shots tonight."
The Beach's heralded freshman class made a major impact in the game with the four--Larry Anderson, Eugene Phelps, T.J. Robinson, Casper Ware--playing together down the stretch for most of the last 10 minutes.
"We had four freshmen for the stretch run," Monson said. "That is the first time all year we have put Gene Phelps and T.J. together because we have only been trying to teach them the same position. I thought they were a big key to play them together because we were switching screens and their athleticism allowed us to do that."
Anderson led the freshmen with nine points and five assists. Casper Ware added seven points and six assists, while Robinson had eight points and four boards and Phelps had six points and two rebounds. All four played at least 16 minutes.
Long Beach State shot 52.9 percent on the game while also connecting on 47.6 percent of their 3-pointers. LBSU also out-rebounded Pacific 32-31 and had 18 assists.
The Beach and the Tigers went back and forth in the first half, as the lead changed hands 10 times and was tied three times. The Tigers led at the break 37-32 behind 53.8 percent shooting from the floor and 41.7 percent from 3-point range.
Neither team led by more than six in the first half. The Tigers biggest lead was 6, 26-20, with 10:17 to play, while The Beach's biggest lead was four, 11-7, with 16:01 to play.
Gilling got the 49ers going early scoring 11 points in the first half. He started things with a pair of 3-pointers in the first 3:17and added an old fashioned three-point play and a basket inside.
Ware added seven points in the first half, while Cornel Williams and Robinson had six points each for the 49ers who made 48 percent of their shots.
