49er
men's basketball opens home season tonight
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
After
dropping it's first two games on the road
against San Diego State and Portland the
Long Beach State men's basketball team (0-2)
plays its first home game of the season
tonight at The Pyramid against Cal State
Stanislaus (2-0).
The
49ers have never played Cal State Stanislaus
in men's basketball. The Warriors are off
to a 2-0 start after winning its own County
Bank Classic defeating Hawaii-Hilo (80-71
OT) and Menlo College (83-61).
The
49ers split the preseason losing to 49ers
head coach Larry Reynolds' former team Cal
State San Bernardino 89-74 before defeating
Olympic Club, a club team out of Irvine,
83-81.
True
freshman Kevin Houston, a 5'10" point
guard out of San Gregorio High School averaged
32 points and six assists for both games.
He hit a road block against SDSU finishing
with three points six turnovers and three
assists in a game the 49ers dropped 74-44.
Its lowest point total since a 55-43 loss
to Wyoming in 1998.
Despite
the bad game, Houston, who averaged 20 points
and 9 assists per game for San Gregorio
High School, has done a solid job of running
the point for the 49ers who were lacking
a ture point guard last season.
Against
Portland, Houston only scored four points,
but added eight dishes. Most of those to
teammate Jibril Hodges who had the hot hand
in the teams 65-59 loss.
Hodges,
who played point guard for most of last
season has moved to the shooting guard.
His natural spot and a spot he feels more
comfortable playing. Despite not being able
to shoot around prior to the game against
the Pilots because of the flu, Hodges led
the team with 18 points, 15 of those coming
in the second half. Hodges was 5 for 7 from
behind the three-point line, four of his
trifecta buckets came in the second half.
The
switch seems to have paid off for the 49ers.
In the teams' first two exhibition games
against CSUSB and Olympic Club, Hodges scored
27 points and tallied 9 assists for both
games. Last season Hodges averaged six points
and 2 assists per game as a Big West Conference
All-Freshman Team selection. He started
the final 11 games at the point and hit
double digits in scoring five times, including
a career-high 19 points in the 49ers win
over conference champion UCSB 68-67 at The
Pyramid.
One
more positive note for the 49ers is that
junior Chris Jenkins, who sprained his ankle
in the game against CSUSB, is healthy again.
Jenkins had to sit out the teams' second
exhibition game, but was cleared to go against
Portland playing 11 minutes scoring two
points. Jenkins was a disappointment last
season, but has worked hard over the summer
and looks to be a bright spot on the team
this year.
Senior
Antione Jackson, who has not been able to
play because of a broken finger on his left
hand suffered in early October is also healthy
and ready to go. He was able to practice
and started against Portland shooting 6
for 9 and finishing with 12 points, three
boards in 30 minutes of play.
Senior
Kevin Roberts, who had a solid season last
year averaging 12 points and six boards,
is continuing where he left off. Roberts
scored in double figures in both exhibition
games. He scored 13 points against SDSU
and 11 against Portland. He also added four
rebounds and assists against Portland.
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