Big
West • The win Saturday
night against the UC Irvine Anteaters
clinched the 49ers spot in the Big
West Conference this week. The men
pushed past the Anteaters 93-73 with
Junior Aaron Nixon tallying 24 points
on the night. Jon Cooke / Online
Forty-Niner
49er
men Big West bound, No. 1 in the nation
in scoring
By Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
The Long Beach State men’s basketball team is the No. 1 scoring team
in NCAA Division 1 basketball.
The 49ers were down by 21 points (31-10) Saturday night at UC Irvine’s
Bren Events Center with 11:54 in the first half, but brought the score up to
93-73 to finish the game ahead of the Anteaters.
The Anteaters hit nine three pointers in the first nine minutes of the game,
but defensive intensity and efficient offense saw The Beach make a comeback.
“
They came out hot,” said LBSU Head Coach Larry Reynolds, whose team
secured the third spot in Big West conference standings. “Our defense
turned up a little bit and our guys started getting some baskets. Our depth
and our pressure wore them down. They started feeling it in their legs and
shots stopped falling that fell when they were fresh.”
The enormous 41-point swing came at the hands of star junior guard Aaron Nixon’s
24 points on the night. Nixon lead a second half charge, tying the game at
57 with a jumper with 15:31 remaining in the game.
“
Good things happen when you drive to the basket,” Hawkins said. “That’s
basically what coach has been trying to stress. When we do that, we’ll
get easy looks against everyone in our conference.”
The 49ers rallied together and pushed their offense to hit the shots and play
hard defense against UCI, which resulted in the 41-point turn around.
“
A sense of urgency,” Nixon said, referring to the comeback effort and
a step up in defensive intensity. “Like [Reynolds] said at the first
time out, we can’t let them shoot. UCI has one of the best team field
goal percentages in the nation.”
A 12-0 run in the second half was the result of the defense and a charged offense
attack.
“
Our focus was to get to the basket and to keep the pressure defense up,” Nixon
said.” He shot 11-18 shooting in the run.
“
That’s what we brought Aaron here for, and that’s what we’ve
been expecting,” Reynolds said. “He’s turned his game up
a notch, and that’s what he showed us when he was in junior college.
He’s a tremendously versatile player, and he’s so strong, it’s
hard to match up.”
A dunk on the fast break by senior guard Jibril Hodges, combined with free
throws by senior forward Shawn Hawkins,n who had 19 points of his own, helped
complete the victory in front of fans that traveled down the 405 to support
LBSU.
“
It’s definitely a good feeling,” Hawkins said. “It’s
always good to have the crowd going back and forth”
The Big West Conference Tournament will take place next week at the Anaheim
Convention Center. The 49ers, who secured the third seed in the tournament
with a win against the UC Riverside Highlanders last Thursday night, will enjoy
a first round bye before taking on their first opponent next Thursday, still
to be determined.
The Beach will likely be paired with a conference team that it has already
beaten twice this season.
“
You never like to play a team you’ve beaten twice,” Reynolds
said. “It’s difficult to beat a team three times in a row.”
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