Long Beach State University
6-4
Utah State
6-4
49ers manhandle WAC favorite Utah State 75-62
12/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. - T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware combined for 44 points to lead Long Beach State past WAC preseason favorite Utah State 75-62 at the Walter Pyramid Friday night in front of 2,656 fans.
Robinson matched a career high with 25 points while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to lead The Beach (6-4) to the win. Robinson recorded his 11th career double-double and his sixth of the season, while making 8-of-9 shots from the field and 9-of-12 free throws.
Ware added 19 points and a game-high seven assists. Maybe more importantly, Ware hounded Jared Quayle, USU's leading scorer, all 32 minutes the Aggies point guard played limiting him to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Larry Anderson added 13 points and Stephan Gilling chipped in 12 points, on 4-of-6 shooting from three, to help LBSU to the win.
Utah State (6-4) jumped out to a 9-8 lead six minutes into the game, but it was all The Beach from there. Gilling canned one of his four 3-pointers with 13:26 to play in the first half giving LBSU a 12-9 lead. The 49ers wouldn't trail again.
The Aggies hung around most of the first half tying the game at 26 with four minutes to play, but Long Beach State outscored the Aggies 5-2 to take a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
The Beach dominated early in the second half outscoring Utah State 21-10 in the first eight minutes to take a commanding 52-38 lead.
LBSU built the lead to as many as 17 with less than four minutes to play and never let the Aggies get closer than 11 in the final 13:05 of the game.
Long Beach State made 51 percent (25-of-49) of its shots, including 42.1 percent (8-of-19) of its 3-pointers and 77.3 percent (17-of-22) of its free throws. The Beach limited USU to 38.2 percent (21-of-55) shooting from the floor, and just 20 percent (4-of-20) shooting from beyond the arc.
Tai Wesley led the Aggies scoring 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, but the rest of the Aggies were held to 25.6 percent (11-of-43) shooting.
Long Beach States starts a three-game road swing to wrap up its pre-conference season schedule Monday at Loyola Marymount before traveling to No. 3 Kentucky and No. 6 Duke.
