New
coach’s old team beats LBSU
By Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
A
new era in Long Beach State men’s basketball
began Friday night at The Pyramid with a
loss.
New head coach Larry Reynolds started his
49ers basketball coaching career with a
loss to his old team Cal State San Bernardino,
61-53, in front of a crowd of 2,303. The
exhibition game featured Reynolds pitted
against old assistant coach and new head
coach at CSUSB, Larry Oliver.
The Coyotes outscored The Beach by 11 points
in the second half with tough defense and
transition basketball. CSUSB forced 22 turnovers,
which included 14 steals, as the Coyotes
were in every passing lane, presumably knowing
the tendencies of the team’s old coach.
“They (CSUSB) know what we are doing a little
better than we know what we are doing,”
Reynolds said. “You can’t turn the ball
over 22 times and hope to win the game.”
Concurring with Reynold’s perspective on
The Beach’s struggle with ball movement
and execution, Oliver said “We are like
a mirror image of each other, in terms of
what we do offensively. They (LBSU) almost
got there and we (CSUSB) did get there,
in terms of getting hands in lanes or knowing
where they were going to throw the ball.”
Kevin Roberts led the 49ers team with 20
points on 8-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bobby Burries dictated the game
for the Coyotes, scoring 15 points and adding
five steals.
Freshman guard Jibril Hodges made his 49ers
debut starting the game and playing 29 minutes.
Hodges scored only five points with five
rebounds and three assists, but played well
in his first collegiate game.
“It was a tough situation for a freshman
point guard to go out in his first home
game and have the other team right up in
you and knowing exactly what you are going
to do,” Reynolds said.
In addition, 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman
Alex Graham did not play for the 49ers,
because Reynolds did not see a favorable
match up for the center, but Reynolds expects
Graham to play against teams with taller
post players.
The Beach also played without junior transfer
Darnell Thompson, who redshirted for Reynolds
at CSUSB. Thompson, who has been practicing,
has academic issues to resolve before he
can play this season.
The 49ers will play another exhibition game
Wednesday at The Pyramid at 7:35 p.m. against
Global Sports before starting the regular
season on the road against the University
of North Carolina, Charlotte, on Nov. 22.
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