Long Beach State University
12-6, 5-0BWC
Pacific
5-11, 1-4BWC
Ware scores 20 points to lead 49ers past Pacific
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2012
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LONG BEACH, Calif. - Casper Warescored eight of his game-high 20 points in the final 4:33 of the game to lead Long Beach State to a 76-66 Big West Conference win over Pacific on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
Ware's late game heroics helped the 49ers rally from a six-point deficit with less than six minutes to play to claim the win. LBSU outscored the Tigers 23-7, over the final five minutes and seven seconds, to pick up the win.
Long Beach State(12-6, 5-0 Big West) started the comeback with four straight free throws, two by T.J. Robinson and two by Larry Andersonto pull within two, 59-57.
Pacific answered with a free throw by Ross Rivera to make it a three-point game, but Ware changed that in a hurry with what turned out to be the play of the game.
The reigning Big West Conference Player of the Year canned a 3-point shot with 3:32 to play, while being fouled, to tie the game. He added the free throw to give LBSU a 61-60 lead. The 49ers increased the lead to four with three free throws, two by James Ennis and one by Eugene Phelpsbefore Pacific scored again.
The 49ers polished off the Tigers (5-11, 1-4 Big West) by making 12 straight free throws over the final one minute and 33 seconds to secure the win. After Ware's clutch 3-pointer, LBSU scored its final 16 points at the charity stripe, making 16-of-18 (88.9 percent).
The 49ers finished the game making 35-of-39 (89.7 percent) free throws. Anderson (18 points) led the way going 10-for-10 from the line. Ennis (14 points/5 assists) was 8-for-8, while Ware went 5-for-5.
Robinson finished with 14 points (6-of-7 from the line), while tying a career high with 19 rebounds.
Long Beach State jumped out to an early three-point lead, 10-7, thanks to threes by Ware, Anderson and Ennis in the first five minutes.
The 49ers continued to shoot threes, making just 3-of-8 in the first eight minutes and 45 seconds, while Pacific countered with 6-of-16 shooting but the Tigers were 5-of-8 from two point range to take a 14-11 lead.
LBSU answered with four straight points to take the lead and stretched the run to 9-3 to take a 20-17 lead on a 3-pointer by Larry Anderson. The Tigers answered outscoring Long Beach State 9-4 in the final 5:03 of the half to take a 26-24 lead into the locker room.
Ware led LBSU in the first half with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-5 from three. Anderson matched Ware with a pair of 3-pointers, while Ennis' three gave Long Beach State five in the half.
Unfortunately for the 49ers, they were held to just two field goals inside the 3-point line to finish the half 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from the floor. Robinson had 12 rebounds before the break as LBSU out-boarded Pacific 24-14 in the half. Long Beach State committed eight more turnovers (12-4) than the Tigers.
The Tigers hit just 10-of-25 shots (34.5 percent), and were just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from three.
Both teams got the offense going early in the second half. After scoring just a pair of two-point field goals in the entire first half, the 49ers got two in the first 45 seconds with their third coming 2:17 into the second half.
The two teams combined to score 31 points in the first four minutes and 46 seconds of the half, with LBSU taking a one-point lead with a 17-14 edge. The teams battled continued to battle with neither team leading by more than three points until Pacific went on a 8-0 run to take the 59-53 lead.
