ANAHEIM — For the second consecutive season, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team is just one win away from the Big Dance. And, for a second straight year, UC Santa Barbara will be the last obstacle to clear to reach the NCAA Tournament.
The top-seeded 49ers (22-10), winners of 11 in a row, are headed to their second straight Big West Conference Tournament championship game after dropping No. 7 UC Riverside, 74-63, in a wire-to-wire victory Friday night at the Honda Center.
Junior guard Larry Anderson paced The Beach, which had four players reach double-digit scoring. Anderson led all scorers with 21 points on top of his nine rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Greg Plater added 17 points to go with three steals, and all five of his made field goals came from beyond the arc.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Anderson said. “When we’re really hungry and we defend, we’re really hard to beat.”
LBSU will now face No. 5 UCSB (17-13), the defending conference tournament champion which defeated Cal State Northridge, 83-63. Tip off is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Honda Center, and the game will air on ESPN2. The Gauchos won, 69-64, in last season’s title game.
The 49ers went on a 15-0 run in the first six minutes of the victory over the Highlanders. After starting 0 for 7 from the field, UCR (12-19) hit a pair of 3-pointers to get on the board and stop the outburst.
“Long Beach got on us really quick and hard,” UCR head coach Jim Wooldridge said. “[LBSU] built up a sizeable lead and put us in the hole.”
With a comfortable 12-point lead coming into the second half, The Beach continued to put the pressure on the Highlanders. Conference player of the year Casper Ware drove in the lane before dishing it off to Anderson, who dribbled around a UCR defender to lay it in and the ‘Niners up 56-36 — the largest lead of the game — with 11:51 left to play.
Plater also opened up the second half by hitting a left baseline 3 — breaking the 1,000 career points milestone.
The Highlanders refused to go down without a fight, though, and went on a 15-3 run over the next six minutes to pull within single digits, 62-51. The Highlanders’ Phil Martin hit back-to-back field goals capped off by a 17-foot jumper to put it as close as 64-58 with just 2:20 left to play.
“[The Highlanders] just do not quit, and we just could not put them away,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said.
Plater added: “We knew what we needed to do. But in the second half we got a little stagnant.”
Ware, who had been struggling shooting, responded by hitting a left baseline 3-point shot off an assist from Anderson in transition.
With just a minute left and The Beach up by nine, UCR had no other choice but to start fouling to stop the clock. LBSU hit five of the its last eight free throws to seal the game.
Ware added 16 points to the ‘Niner attack. Junior forward T.J. Robinson contributed with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Highlanders held a slight edge from the field, hitting 42.6 percent (26 of 61) compared to The Beach’s 41.7 percent (20 of 48). The ‘Niners were able to get to the free-throw line, though, making 25-of-36 to UCI’s 6-of-12.
Despite the sting of losing Borum is pleased with how his team responded.
“It hurts,” Borum said. “Most teams would give up at that point, but I’m pleased at how we went out and fought.”
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