The third time was not the charm for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team Saturday night in San Francisco.
After winning its first two overtime games of the young season — one a double overtime thriller — the 49ers fell in double OT, this time to the host Dons, 78-74, at War Memorial Gym.
The loss also ends LBSU’s four-game win streak.
Dior Lowhorn led the way for USF (6-3) as one of five players who scored in double figures, registering 26 points and eight rebounds. Kwame Vaughn added 13 points and eight boards while Blake Wallace recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
For the 49ers (4-3), it was Donovan Morris who kept them in the game once again, scoring 21 points, getting eight rebounds and dishing out five assists. Freshman sensation Casper Ware scored 14 while Arturas Lazdauskas scored 10.
Morris followed a miss with an offensive rebound and put-back with just nine seconds remaining to tie the game and force the second overtime session.
Cornel Williams added eight points and eight rebounds for the ‘Niners, who dropped to 1-3 on the road.
“We didn’t play as well as we need to to win on the road,” 49ers head coach Dan Monson said. “You have to play exceptional to win on the road and we played OK. We were out of sync tonight and you can’t do that and expect to win on the road.”
USF out-rebounded LBSU, 44-37. Despite making four more field goals than the Dons (29-25), Long Beach came up way short in the free throw category.
LBSU had only 15 attempts, making 10, but San Francisco capitalized on 20 of its 32 free throw trys, including 10-of-13 in the two overtime periods.
San Francisco led almost the entire second half but was unable to put Long Beach away until late in the second overtime in front of 2,899 fans.
Both teams shot poorly from 3-point range with Long Beach knocking down just 6-of-21 attempts (28.6 percent) while San Francisco went 8-of-31 (25.8 percent).
San Francisco held a one-point halftime edge, 29-28. The game was tied at 57 at the end of regulation.
Long Beach travels to Weber State on Thursday night at 5 p.m. for a rematch of last month’s Homecoming game in which LBSU overcame a 23-point second half deficit to beat the Wildcats, 73-69.
They head to New York after that contest to take on 16th-ranked Syracuse on Saturday afternoon in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU.
