Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
5-6
Pepperdine
5-4
Pepperdine Slips Past Long Beach State 77-75
12/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Malibu, Calif. - Down two with under 30 seconds remaining, Long Beach State's full-court press found success, as the 49ers forced a steal that led to a Nick Faust dunk to tie the game at 75-75, but a Jett Raines tip-in with three seconds in the game led to a 77-75 win for Pepperdine in Malibu.
Long Beach State (5-6) scored 21 points off of turnovers and 16 on the fast break, but was unable to stop hot shooting and opportunistic scoring from Pepperdine (5-4). The Waves shot 63.3 percent in the second half, and scored 20 second chance points, including two crucial baskets from Raines, including the game-winner in the final two minutes.
Capitalizing on a long rebound, Long Beach State found Branford Jones for a fast-break layup with just over three minutes to play to cut the Pepperdine lead to one at 72-71. In the next Waves possession, however, Pepperdine had three offensive rebounds before a Raines tip-in extended the lead, and then a free throw from Stacy Davis extended the lead to four points. The Beach were able to find Faust to drive the lane, leading to the closing sequence.
"We knew that rebounding was going to key for this team and our defense, and we're not improving at the rate we need to be a good team," said Dan Monson. "The problem is that rebounding is so much mental toughness, physical toughness, and right now we're not tough enough when the ball is in the air."
Both teams looked impressive offensively in the second half, as Long Beach State shot 56.7 percent from the floor and each squad scored over 40 points in the last period. The teams traded the lead 10 times, all in the second half, as neither team seemed able to string together defensive stops.
Long Beach State had fought back into the game in the first half. The Waves led by as many as 11 in the first half, but the 49ers went on an 11-3 run over the final 3:22 to trim the deficit to one at 32-31 before halftime.
Faust led the team in scoring for the eighth time this season, scoring 14 points, while Gabe Levin added 11 and Jones hit double-figures for the first time in 2015-16, scoring 10 points.
Long Beach State returns to the Walter Pyramid Saturday, hosting Tampa at 4 p.m.
