49ers top Idaho after Pepperdine loss

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

No matter what happens the rest of the season the Long Beach State men's basketball team will enjoy a lengthy stay alone atop the Big West standings.

Thanks to guard Brad Smith's timely three-point shooting, the 49ers (4-4 overall, 1-0 Big West Conference) held off a tough Idaho (2-5, 0-1) squad, 94-88, in double overtime. Due to a scheduling quirk, it will be the only conference game for a month, leaving The Beach first in the standings.

In its first game without "heart and soul" Rudy Williams last Wednesday against Pepperdine (4-2), the 49ers played like a bunch of Tin Men, wandering around the court without focus and losing 81-62.

LBSU 94, Idaho 88 2OT

Both teams had chances to win in both regulation and the first overtime period before the 49ers opened the second extra frame on a 10-0 run before holding off the rallying Vandals.

Smith hit three three-pointers, including one to send the game into double overtime with 10.7 seconds left and two in double overtime to save the 49ers.

"I'm glad I had a chance to show what I can do and the guys have in confidence in me to get me the ball," Smith said.

Guard Rock Lloyd led The Beach with 29 points and forward Lemi Williams added 19. The front court duo of Travis Reed and Grant Stone both had possibly their best games for the 49ers, both finishing with identical 10 points and 14 rebounds. The rebound totals are career highs for both players.

Guard Adam Miller led Idaho with 27 points, including five of 11 on three pointers, and six assists. Guard Bethuel Fletcher added 17 points and a team-high 9 rebounds.

After the Vandals came out of the halftime break up 35-30, the 49ers went on a 20-10 run led by Stone's scoring and rebounding to take a five-point lead. The Beach kept the lead until Miller put back a missed free throw to tie the game at 63 with 5.4 second left.

On the inbounds play, Fletcher ran into Lloyd and stole the ball, and Lloyd immediately fouled the Idaho guard, sending him to the line with a chance to win. Fletcher missed the charity shot and the game went into overtime.

In the first extra frame, pulled ahead by six, with the points coming mostly on free throws.  The 49ers tried to win on threes early, but they missed five before Williams and Ron
Johnson connected to pull within three. With 18.9 seconds left and Idaho up by one, Matt Gerschefske fouled Williams hard, aggravating his already spasming back.

Williams missed both free throws that would have put the 49ers up and on the next possession Fletcher hit two free throws to put the Vandals back up by three. Enter Smith, who found his range at just the right time to save the 49ers and tie the game back up at 79-79.

To begin the second frame, Smith hit two more threes to lead a 10-0 run, but Idaho hit some threes of their own to pull within 91-88 with 35 seconds left. Though their free throw shooting was atrocious during the game, hitting only 21 of 39, the 49ers hit them when they mattered and finished the game up by six at 94-88. For the game, the 49ers outrebounded the Vandals 49-42.

"We have to credit to the kids for not quitting," said 49er assistant Brent Bargen.

Men's basketball

Pepperdine 81, LBSU 62

In the first game since losing forward Rudy Williams for the season, Lloyd and Stone took the mantle of leadership and tried to lead the team to victory against Pepperdine. Problem was, no one else on the floor looked like they wanted to follow the two seniors.

"In the first half we shot poorly and in the second half we were careless and not tough enough," Head Coach Wayne Morgan said.

The play was sloppy early in the first half, with both teams missing more shots than they were hitting. Trouble came for LBSU when Reed got his second foul early, leaving Stone with raw freshman Kevin Roberts and the untested Rory Clark for help on the inside.

Five points by Lloyd led LBSU on a 12-4 run that gave them a 24-21 lead with 4:21 left in the half. About that time, the Waves found their range and hit four treys during a
17-5 run to lead 38-29 at halftime.

At the break, Lloyd led the 49ers in scoring with 12 and Stone led in rebounding with seven. The Beach shot a dismal 29 percent from the floor for the half. Micah McKinney and Michael Hall both had eight points for Pepperdine and Kelvin Gibbs had six boards.

It was more of the same in the second half, with most of the 49ers looking like they neither wanted to shoot the ball or stop the Waves from scoring. Lloyd was the only player who wanted the rock, and fortunately for the 49ers, he was also the only player shooting well.

The Waves continued their solid shooting, running the lead to as many as 28 before clearing the bench during garbage time. Pepperdine shot 53 percent from the field in the second half and 47.5 percent for the game.

"Any time you lose a team leader it's huge," Stone said. "Even so, this is the same team that beat San Francisco because Rudy only played four minutes. We need to pick up the slack and play better on defense."

Lloyd finished with a game-high 21 points on eight of 14 shooting. Stone finished with six points and eight boards. LBSU's point guard combo of Michael Darrett and Ron Johnson were ice cold, going a combined one of 13 from the field, but Darrett did snag a season-high five steals for the second time this year.

Brandon Armstrong led the Waves with 18 points on eight of 13 shooting. McKinney finished with 15 points and a game-high eight assists. Gibbs scored 17 to go with his game-high 11 rebounds.

Caroline Limuti/Daily Forty-Niner

Ron Johnson (left) and Lemi Williams gang up on Pepperdine player during Wednesday's 49er loss at The Pyramid.