Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
13-13, 7-3
UC Santa Barbara
12-11, 5-4
Beach Falls At UCSB Despite Career Night From LaSalle
2/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Santa Barbara, Calif. - Senior McKay LaSalle scored a career high 18 points, making his first seven shots from the field but the 49ers couldn't pull over the top on the road at UC Santa Barbara, falling 70-55 Thursday night.
"I thought we fought, I just thought we didn't respond well enough to how we played on Saturday," said head coach Dan Monson "I didn't think we came out as the aggressor, and again, we're letting teams get comfortable, and we're not dictating things until it's too late."
With the 49ers down 26-23 at the half, UC Santa Barbara (12-11, 5-4 Big West) went on a 5-0 run to start the second half, but LaSalle pulled the 49ers back into it, scoring eight straight points for Long Beach State (13-13, 7-3 Big West) to get Long Beach State within one.
The Gauchos pushed back once more, leading by as many as 12 at 54-42 with 6:34 to play before the Beach went into a pressure defense.
LaSalle and Mike Caffey hit two straight jumpers, and two free throws from David Samuels cut the lead to six. A Caffey three made the score 54-51, and Deontae North had an open look to tie the game with 4:16 to play that rimmed out, and Zalmico Harmon went the other way for a layup.
Two end of the shot clock threes for Gabe Vincent and Harmon then stretched the UCSB lead to 11, and the Gauchos were in control the rest of the way.
For LaSalle, his 18 points were a career high, and the senior started the game 7-for-7 from the field, with his only miss coming in the final minutes while the 49ers were scrambling to come back. Caffey had 11 points with four assists, but the pair didn't get much help, with only David Samuels and Travis Hammonds scoring more than four points on the day for the Beach.
Michael Bryson led the scoring for the Gauchos, scoring 21 points with 9 rebounds, with a large chunk of that scoring coming out of the gate as UCSB went on a 9-2 run to start the game, with Bryson scoring all nine points.
Long Beach State continues the current road trip on Saturday, when they will play Cal Poly in Mott Gym at 7 p.m.
