Long Beach State University
14-13, 9-5
CSUN
14-12, 10-4
Beach men lose 95-74 at Cal State Northridge
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2009
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - All things being equal, Saturday's game at Cal State Northridge is one Long Beach State would like to forget. The 49ers dropped a 95-74 decision at the hands of the Matadors in a battle for first place.
The Beach can still win the regular season Big West Conference title, but they are going to need some help. Long Beach State (14-13, 9-5 Big West) has two road games left at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, while Cal State Northridge (14-12, 10-4 Big West) travels to Pacific and UC Davis. Both Pacific and UC Riverside have lost six games in the Big West and can still claim the league title.
T.J. Robinson led Long Beach State with 19 points and eight rebounds against CSUN. Larry Anderson added 16 points, 14 in the first half, while Stephan Gilling had 12 points and Donovan Morris added 11, nine coming in the second half. Morris' points were his first since returning from a foot injury on Thursday against UC Irvine. CSUN had six players score in double figures.
Early on the game looked like it would be anything but a blowout. Leading 20-18, the Matadors came out of a timeout on a 7-0 run to push the lead to nine. Gilling answered with a three to stop the CSUN run. He added another three after a Northridge basket to make it 29-24 with 7:44 to play in the first half.
Northridge went on a 6-0 run over the next 3:50 to push the lead to 35-24. The Matadors scored 11 of their 35 points on the fast break, while shooting 56 percent from the floor in the first 16:05 of the game. LBSU was able to convert on just 38.1 percent of its shots, while committing 10 turnovers during that time.
The half didn't end well for The Beach. Cal State Northridge finished with a 9-5 run in the final 1:47 to take a 13-point lead, 49-36 into the locker room. The Matadors shot 60 percent from the floor, 75 percent from three (6-of-8) and 70 percent from the line.
LBSU countered shooting 44 percent from the floor in the first half, while making just 2-of-7 threes. Only good free throw shooting (12-of-13) and Anderson kept the 49ers in the game. Anderson finished with 14 points in the first half on 7-of-8 shooting. Robinson had all eight of his first-half points at the charity stripe and Gilling made two 3-pointers for six points. The Beach also turned it over 11 times before intermission.
It didn't get any better for Long Beach State in the second half. CSUN built the lead to as many as 28 while shooting 64.3 percent (18-of-28) from the field in the second half. The 49ers answered making only 41.7 percent (15-of-36) of their shots. The Matadors finished the game shooting 62.1 percent (36-of-58) from the floor and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from three, while out-rebounding Long Beach State 36-28. The Beach made 42.6 percent (26-of-61) shots overall, while canning just 31.8 percent (7-of-22) threes.
