Tournament most valuable player Aaron Nixon and Kejuan Johnson, a pair of seniors, scored 29 and 24, respectively, to lead Long Beach State to the 2007 Big West Championship with a 94-83 win over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at the Anaheim Convention Center on March 10. The victory advanced the 49ers to their first NCAA tournament since 1995 where they faced the University of Tennessee in a first-round game of the South Regional in Columbus, Ohio.