Long Beach State University
18-10, 12-2BWC
Cal Poly
14-13, 9-5BWC
49ers clinch Big West title with win over Cal Poly
2/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2011
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LONG BEACH, Calif. - Casper Ware scored a game-high 25 points to lead Long Beach State to a 61-55 win over Cal Poly at the Walter Pyramid on Thursday night. With the win, the 49ers clinched the Big West Conference regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the Big West Conference Tournament.
Ware tied his career high with five 3-pointers, but none of them were bigger than his final one. Cal Poly took a 50-48 lead with 4:37 to play on a 3-pointer by Shawn Lewis, but Ware answered 23 seconds later canning a three to give the 49ers the lead back for good.
The Ware three sparked an 8-1 spurt by LBSU over the next two minutes and 15 seconds that saw the 49ers build a 56-51 lead. Greg Plater followed Ware's three with a 3-pointer of his own 49 seconds later to give Long Beach State a 54-50 lead.
After a Will Donohue free throw cut the lead to three, T.J. Robinson scored to push the 49ers lead to five, 56-51. Cal Poly scored again to get the lead to three with less than a minute to play, but LBSU answered. With the shot clock running down, Plater launched a long three which didn't draw iron but instead fell into the hands of Larry Anderson (13 points) who put it in to push the lead back to five.
David Hanson hit a pair of free throws to narrow the lead to three again with seven seconds to play, but Long Beach State inbounded the ball long to Plater who was intentionally fouled with five seconds to play. Plater hit one of two free throws and then Ware hit two more free throws to give The Beach the win and the championship.
Long Beach State connected on 42.6 percent (23-of-54) of its shots, but just 36.7 percent (8-of-20) in the second half. Ware paced LBSU making 8-of-15, including 5-of-10 from three. Cal Poly hit 36.5 percent (19-of-52) of its shots, but the Mustangs went just 2-of-11 from three in the second half after making 6-of-12 in the first half.
Ware sparked Long Beach State early scoring nine of his 13 first-half points in the first 3:05 of the game. Ware canned three 3-pointers to push the 49ers to a 12-8 lead.
Cal Poly came storming back to take a 15-12 lead on a three by Jamal Johnson, but Ware answered with a bucket to give him 11 points in the first six minutes of the game. Robinson added a hoop and LBSU was back in front 16-15.
Cal Poly regained the lead 17-16 on a hoop by Donohue, but LBSU went on a 10-2 run to build its biggest lead of the game, 26-19, on a three by Brandon Nevens.
Cal Poly climbed back within three at the half, 31-28, despite Long Beach State shooting 50 percent from the floor compared to the Mustangs 35.5 percent.
In the second half, the teams traded buckets in the first three minutes, but then Cal Poly went on a 10-2 run to take a 3-point lead 38-35. Ware answered with a pair of free throws and Robinson hit a shot to put the 49ers back on top 39-38.
The two teams traded the lead 10 times over the next eight minutes with neither team leading by more than two points before Ware and Plater made the back-to-back threes to give Long Beach State the four-point lead with just over three minutes to play.
Chris O'Brien led Cal Poly with a career-high 16 points.
