Long Beach State University
16-10, 11-2BWC
UC Riverside
9-15, 4-8BWC
Anderson and Ware lead 49ers past UC Riverside
2/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2011
Box Score
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LONG BEACH, Calif. - Larry Anderson had a big night Wednesday reaching a career milestone and recording a career high while Long Beach State edged closer to its first regular season conference title since the 2006-2007 season with an impressive 68-55 win over UC Riverside in Big West Conference action at the Walter Pyramid.
Anderson became the third 49er player this season to join the 1,000-point club at Long Beach State, along with T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware, while also recording a double-double with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for the 49ers. Ware, the reigning Big West Conference Player of the Week, scored a team-high 17 points to lead the 49ers in scoring for the fifth straight game.
Long Beach State moved to 11-2 (16-10 overall) in league play and holds a two-game lead over Cal Poly with three to play. The Mustangs beat Cal State Northridge 72-49 Wednesday night to move to 9-4 (14-11 overall) in league action. Long Beach State and Cal Poly meet next Wednesday, Feb. 24, and the 49ers can claim the regular-season title with a win.
Against UC Riverside (9-15, 4-8 Big West), the 49ers controlled the game most of the night building a lead as big as 21. LBSU shot 38.6 percent for the game after struggling from the field in the second half. The 49ers converted on just 6-of-22 shots after the break, but UCR couldn't overcome Long Beach State's 19-point halftime lead. LBSU's lead never got smaller than 11 in the second half, despite making just four baskets in the final 17 minutes of the game. The 49ers kept control by making 11 free throws after intermission, while UCR went 0-for-1 from the stripe.
Long Beach State jumped out early scoring the first six points of the night on baskets by Anderson and T.J. Robinson and a pair of free throws from Greg Plater forcing UCR to call a timeout. The Highlanders responded going on an 8-3 run of their own cutting the lead to one, 9-8.
It was all LBSU from there. Plater canned a three followed by an Anderson hoop to spark an 11-3 run that pushed the lead to nine, 20-11. After a basket by Phil Martin cut the lead to seven, Long Beach State went on a 20-7 run building a 21-point lead, 41-20, before going to the locker room up 43-24.
Ware helped spark the final run of the half scoring nine of his 10 first-half points on three 3-pointers, two coming 20 seconds apart to cap the run with 3:55 to play. Ware scored 10 points before the break, while Anderson nearly finished the half with a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds. LBSU made 45.7 percent (16-of-35) of its shots, while holding UCR to 28.6 percent (8-of-28) shooting.
UC Riverside scored the first five points of the second half to cut Long Beach State's lead to 43-29, but the 49ers answered with a basket from Robinson (8 points/8 rebounds), a three by Ware and a free throw by Anderson to push the lead back to 20, 49-29. UCR went on an 8-0 run while LBSU went 5:12 without scoring to get within 12.
Long Beach State answered at the free throw line scoring its next five points from the charity stripe before Anderson broke a seven minute and 35 second 49er drought without a basket when he scored with 9:38 to play to give LBSU a 56-39 lead.
The 49ers scored five more free throws before Plater hit a three with 5:46 to play to finish an 8-2 run to push the 49ers lead back to 20. The 49ers scored just four points the rest of the way but UCR could never seriously threaten again.
Long Beach State returns to action Saturday night when the 49ers host Big Sky Conference leader Montana in a BracketBuster game at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
