49ers lose season opener at Southern Illinois

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

The pieces are in place and the post-season goals are in sight, but the Long Beach State men's basketball juggernaut still needs a little fine-tuning as was evident in a 101-89 loss to Southern Illinois Friday night in Charbondale, Ill.

Guard Kent Williams and forward Joshua Cross each had 19 points for the Salukis in the season opener for both teams.   LBSU guard Rock Lloyd led all scorers with 27 points. In his first official game in more than a year, forward Travis Reed pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go with 13 points.

The Salukis were on fire early, running their lead to 11 just over six minutes into the game. LBSU cut the deficit to five two minutes later, but the home team pulled away, leading by as much as 19 points at 44-25. The Beach used an 8-3 run to pull within 47-33 at the half.

The second half was more of the same with the Salukis leading by as many as 21 points before finishing the game up by 12. The loss dropped the team's record in season openers under Morgan to 2-3.

The 49ers' defense looked good on paper, blocking three shots and getting 14 steals, but on the court it is still unable to stop the opponents from driving the lane. As with the two exhibition games, many of the opponent's baskets came on uncontested baskets and lay-ups.

Forwards Rudy Williams and Vance Lawhorn made their first appearances of the season in the game. Williams played 19 minutes, notching six points, four rebounds and seven turnovers before fouling out. Lawhorn only played five minutes, getting one basket and one rebound.

Most of The Beach's production came from the back court, with Ron Johnson scoring 15 and Michael Darrett getting 14 to go with Lloyd's 27.    Johnson also had four assists and three steals, both team-highs, but he also turned the ball over five times. Forward Grant Stone also had four assists for the game.

Southern Illinois outrebounded the 49ers 41-35 for the game. The 101 points are the most LBSU has allowed in a season opener and the most in any game since a 114-106 overtime win against UC Irvine in 1994.

The Beach will battle Air Force at The Pyramid in its home opener Tuesday at 7:35 p.m.  Air Force is 1-1 and coming off an 84-44 loss to ACC power Wake Forest in final game of Black Coaches Association Classic.

In last year's match-up, the 49ers held the Falcons to 40 percent field goal shooting en route to a 77-76 win.