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49ers
end regular season with magic
Magic
• Senior forward Anthony Coleman tallied
six points in LBSU's 58-57 win over UCSB
on Saturday. Jon Cook / Online Forty-Niner
By
Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
An
emphatic mob of 49ers students trampled
any remnants of a season filled with turbidity
and heartbreak on the floor of The Walter
Pyramid Saturday evening, as the Long Beach
State men's basketball team stunned the
archrival UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 58-57,
in front of a raucous Homecoming crowd of
2,967.
At
the climax of a season that can only be
described as a rollercoaster ride of emotion,
LBSU (10-17, 7-11) was down one point with
0:07 remaining in the contest, as Gauchos
guard Josh Davis sunk a free throw.
But
as a dagger piercing a heart, LBSU sophomore
point guard Kevin Houston frantically ran
down the court and banked in a lay up with
2.5 seconds remaining on the clock, sending
the hordes of 49er fans into a state of
eruption.
"It
was loud. I couldn't believe how loud it
was," said junior guard Jibril Hodges,
who led LBSU with 17 points and a flurry
of clutch three pointers.
"After
Davis' (UCSB) first free throw, it got louder
and scared me when I was at the scorer's
table."
Hodges
sunk five-of-nine three pointers on the
evening, including an important shot to
tie the game at 56 with 0:27 remaining on
the game clock. Davis hit two free throws
to put UCSB (10-19, 7-11) up, 56-53, with
0:39 remaining, but seconds later, Hodges
drilled the high-arching shot from the left
corner.
"I
think the crowd helped us out a lot,"
said senior guard Cody Pearson, who joined
fellow 49ers Anthony Coleman and Chris Jenkins
for the senior night recognition before
the game. "But earlier in the game,
we kind of jumped the gun a little too much
and I speak for myself, but it kind of sped
me up and out of my rhythm."
The
Beach trailed by seven points at the half
and was down by as much as 13 at one point,
but the 49ers regained composure to take
matters into their own hands.
"I
didn't think we shot that well in the first
half," said LBSU Head Coach Larry Reynolds,
whose team is enjoying their seventh win
out of the last eight games. "I thought
we missed some very easy shots against their
zone, but in the second half I think we
did better. Jibril hit some huge end-of-the-shot-clock
threes, and he's been shooting the ball
that well all year. The Pyramid forces were
with us."
"It's
too familiar here," said UCSB Head
Coach Bob Williams, whose Gauchos have lost
in The Walter Pyramid during conference
play for four consecutive years. "Guys,
they're athletic (LBSU). We can say whatever
we want to say about it, but they're a very
athletic team. We were up 13, but we had
a long way to go with these guys in terms
of keeping them off the glass, keeping Hodges
in check and for us to generate offense."
Despite
the 49ers' athleticism, they refused to
overlook the Gauchos' long range shooting
capabilities.
"Santa
Barbara is a team that's not just going
to just rollover—they're going to
keep fighting," Pearson said. "Every
year we play them, whether it's here or
Santa Barbara. It's a dog fight, and that's
what it's going to be next [time]."
The
49ers and the Gauchos will meet for third
time when they play this week in the Big
West Conference Tournament.
"At
the Big West Tournament it's a whole different
ball game, it's zero zero, you start from
scratch," Hodges said.
The sixth-seeded 49ers will once again battle
the Gauchos on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. at
the Anaheim Convention Center with hopes
that a repeat of Saturday's luck will continue.
"Now
we're going to go to that neutral court,"
Reynolds said. "Hopefully we'll take
some of that magic with us over to Anaheim."
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