Long Beach State University
4-4
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Kansas
6-2
49ers rally falls short at No. 13 Kansas
12/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. - There was no quit in Long Beach State Tuesday night at No. 13 Kansas. The 49ers rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit to cut the lead to four twice, but the Jayhawks were able to hold off the LBSU charge 88-80 in front of 16,300 at Allen Fieldhouse.
T.J. Robinson led four 49ers in double figures with 19 points and seven rebounds. James Ennis added 16 points, all in the second half, and six steals. Larry Anderson chipped in 14 points, 12 after intermission, and seven assists, while Casper Ware had 16 points and six steals.
"It's obviously disappointing from our end," LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. "We come in with four seniors and this is the second time we didn't play like seniors. I thought T.J. (Robinson) did though. We had too many guys that were tentative and we let them get into a flow. You come into an environment like this against a quality team and you fall down by 17 or 19 in the first half and you're just battling uphill."
The 49ers rallied behind a defensive that had 11 steals in the second half after giving up 51 first-half points. Ennis had four of his steals after the break, while Ware had three and Anderson added two.
Long Beach State got back within four the first time with 10:52 to play on a 3-pointer by Anderson to make it 60-56. The Jayhawks (6-2) answered with baskets by Jeff Withey and Tyshawn Taylor to push the lead back to 10 with 9:10 to go.
Long Beach never let the lead get any bigger than 11 and narrowed it to four again on a 3-pointer by Ennis with 44 seconds to play, but KU made four free throws in the final 33 seconds to hold off LBSU (4-4).
"Once we got our defense shored up in the second half," Monson added. "We did a little better job but they just wore us out rebounding the ball."
Withey nearly finished with a triple-double, scoring 13 points with 13 rebounds and nine blocks. Thomas Robinson added 26 points and 11 rebounds as the two big men for the Jayhawks helped KU hold a 38-20 advantage in the paint. Kansas also finished with a 21-6 advantage on second-chance points thanks to 12 offensive rebounds and a 17-rebound advantage.
Long Beach State was able to threaten the Jayhawks with a 31-18 scoring advantage off turnovers, but couldn't overcome 32 percent (8-of-25) shooting in the second half. LBSU did make 20-of-27 free throws after halftime, finishing 28-of-37 (75.7 percent) from the line.
Kansas came out hot making seven of its first nine shots, while forcing four Long Beach State turnovers. The Jayhawks pushed the lead to as many as 19, but the 49ers battled and climbed within 10 twice before going into the break behind 51-39.
Robinson paced Long Beach State in the first half with 17 of his points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Ware added 11 points canning 3-of-4 threes including one just before the halftime buzzer. In the first half, LBSU shot 50 percent from the floor, 60 percent from 3-point land and 80 percent from the line but couldn't keep pace with the Jayhawks who made 58.8 percent of their shots, 50 percent of their threes and 85.7 percent from the line.
Thomas Robinson scored 18 points for the Jayhawks in the first half on 8-of-8 shooting, while Conner Teahan went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc finishing the half with 12 of his 14 points.
Things don't get any easier for Long Beach State. The 49ers travel to North Carolina on Saturday to play the No. 4 Tar Heels.
