Last-second shot lifts Portland

Hoops • Sophomore guard Kevin Houston scored five points in the 49ers' heartbreaking loss to Portland, 71-70, in The Pyramid Saturday. Jon Cook/Online Forty-Niner

 

By Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

Coming off a pair of consecutive road losses and dry spell of perimeter shooting, the Long Beach State men's basketball team entered Saturday night's match against the Portland Pilots with a mountain to scale.

Propelled by a solid second half and a late game lead, the Beach was seconds from seeing the light at the top. But the 49ers were sent tumbling back down by a stunning buzzer-beating floater by junior guard Pooh Jeter, as the Pilots (7-2) handed Long Beach State their fifth loss of the season, 71-70, before a crowd of 1,635.

Jeter, who led the Pilots with 26 points, grabbed a rebound with less than seven seconds remaining in the contest and bolted down the sideline in attempt to get a shot. The rebound came off of two put back attempts by the Beach, following a desperation three-point attempt by Cody Pearson as the shot clock neared expiration.

"I got the rebound and just went," Jeter said. "It's like when you're in the front yard and counting down and you just have to throw up a tear-drop and hope it goes in."

And as a dagger piercing a heart, the shot sunk, sending the Long Beach faithful in attendance into a state of shock.

"We didn't quite get the ball in the basket," Long Beach State Head Coach Larry Reynolds said, referring to the two put back attempts following a set play with just seconds left in the game. "We didn't get the play run all the way through. There was some hesitation on the floor, and after Cody took the three, we just couldn't get the two taps to drop."

The 49ers (1-5), paced by junior guard Jibril Hodges' 21 points, took a 70-67 lead with 1:50 left in the game off two free throws by Louis Darby. They led by as much as eight points twice in the second half, but saw the gap narrow with a key lay up and free throw by Long Beach Poly High School graduate, Marcus Lewis, who had 13 points for the night. "We got ourselves into some bad areas on the floor – everything from spacing to double teams," Reynolds said, referring to his team's 20 turnovers from ball handling errors caused by Portland's pressure. "We have to spend more time on it."

Nevertheless, the Beach knew victory was within reach.

"We need to be able to close teams out," Hodges said. "We need to be focused down the stretch and more confident with the ball."

Hodges, who scored 13 of his 21 points in the first half, broke out of an early season shooting slump, sinking five of his eight attempted three pointers.

"I felt more confident than last game," Hodges said. "I wanted to mix it up a little, not just shoot threes."

The Park Forest, Illinois native was complemented by Shawn Hawkins and Chris Jenkins, who scored 13 points and 11 points respectively.

"Chris came off the bench and played real well," Reynolds said. "Their bench pretty much equaled out. We needed to match theirs."

Jenkins shot three for four from beyond the arc, as well as adding three rebounds and two steals for the Beach.

Despite solid performances, and three Long Beach players in double figures, any feeling of triumph would be shattered by a single shot. And unlike several games early in the season, which were labeled as winnable by observers, the 49ers knew that this game was practically won. To the team, the coaches, and to the Long Beach State faithful, nothing is more painful than that.

"Hopefully time will heal us," Reynolds said, whose team will play next at the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic Tournament on Dec. 20th. "We have a week of practice before we leave for Hawaii, and we need to learn what we need to learn from this game."

For the sake of the 49ers, many hope for a quick crash course lesson – as the mountain, which sprouted several inches with the loss, could very well take on monstrous proportion.