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Men's
hoops hit rough road against Pacific and
Cal State Northridge
By
Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
The
environment during an off-road excursion
consistently proves that its asperity and
ruthlessness require certain tools to see
success, much like road games in Division
I college basketball.
This
past weekend on the road, the Long Beach
State men's basketball team was reminiscent
of an overmatched sedan pitted against a
monster truck, as the 49ers were trampled
by the conference rival Pacific Tigers,
87-58, in the Spanos Center Saturday night.
The
televised game saw The Beach (3-18, 1-10)
display its competitiveness early on, as
they mounted a 13-7 lead with 15:23 left
in the first half. Pacific nonetheless regained
utter dominance, rallying to a commanding
50-27 lead at halftime.
The
second half would not be any more merciful,
as the Tigers (18-2, 12-0) charged out of
the gates with a 7-0 run to build a 30-point
lead. The largest lead for Pacific came
with four minutes to play, as the scoreboard
read 83-48.
"Pacific
played very well," said Long Beach
State Head Coach Larry Reynolds, referencing
the performance of the No. 1-team in the
league.
Senior
forward/center Guillaume Yango led Pacific
with 20 points, while junior guard Jibril
Hodges and sophmore forward Onye Ibekwe
paced LBSU with 12 points a piece.
Just
nights before, LBSU came a mere two points
from their second road victory in two and
half years, but suffered a 68-66 loss after
a hard-fought battle at Cal State Northridge
(11-9, 8-3) Thursday night.
Hodges
tallied a career-best 24 points in the loss,
with an astonishing 6-11 shooting exhibition
from beyond the three-point line.
The
Beach gained a 38-36 lead with 17:07 left
to play in the contest, maintaining the
advantage for most of the duration of the
match. Unfortunately, the effort, hustle
and determination of the 49ers would prove
to be in vain, as a free throw by CSUN with
25 seconds left sealed the victory for the
Matadors.
The
hot-shooting Hodges had a chance to put
the 49ers over the top near the end, but
his three-point attempt with 10 seconds
remaining did not sink.
"Cody
set a good screen, and I got a good look
at it, and that's all I can ask," Hodges
said.
And
the loss was yet another page in the chapter
of a season characterized by near misses
and heartbreaking defeat.
"We
definitely have our work cut out for us,"
Reynolds said. "We have to win our
next four games at home so we can put ourselves
in position to get into The Big West Tournament.
We must protect our home court and win these
next four games.
"The
Beach is in danger of missing the Big West
conference tournament for the third consecutive
year.
For
the sake of 49er fans, many hope that the
home court will not prove to be anywhere
near as turbulent as the road.
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