By While students were away enjoying their winter break, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team endured a difficult gauntlet in their 2015-2016 schedule.
The 49ers (8-11, 2-2) dropped out-of-conference road games at Duke, Oregon and Arizona. The team then split their first four Big West conference games against CSUN, UC Davis, UC Irvine and Cal Poly.
LBSU went 2-5 during that stretch, but there were some bright spots and noteworthy moments.
At Oregon, despite losing 84-73, LBSU junior forward Travis Hammonds had a career-high 27 points; including 21 in the first half alone. Hammonds eventually finished 8 of 10 from three-point range to set a Matthew Knight Arena record for made three-pointers.
When the 49ers traveled to Tucson to take on Arizona, it was never a ball game as Arizona exploited LBSU’s lack of interior presence by outrebounding the 49ers 40-20. The lone bright spot for LBSU was senior guard Nick Faust’s 17 points on six of nine shooting.
Up next was the road trip to Durham, North Carolina to take on the defending national champion, Duke. The 49ers led for nearly 15 minutes in the first half and showed they could hang with the Blue Devils early on. Freshman guard Noah Blackwell racked up a career high 19 points, including four three-pointers and seven rebounds. Senior guard A.J. Spencer scored 20 on the day as well.
However, the wheels would fall off for the 49ers. The Blue Devils scorched LBSU for 61 points in the second half and the team could not stop Duke guard Grayson Allen as he lit them up for 33 points and helped seal the 103-81 win for the Blue Devils.
LBSU would find its winning ways again in their conference opener with a 94-79 win over CSUN to start 2016 off. Nick Faust scored a career high 28 points, which included seven of eight from beyond the arc and 12 rebounds. The 49ers followed that with a 57-49 win over lowly UC Davis.
All eyes were on the Big West showdown between LBSU and defending conference champion UC Irvine last Thursday night. LBSU led at halftime, 29-21, and Faust would once again lead the team in scoring with 19 points.
But Faust’s production would not be enough as LBSU shot an abysmal 14 of 57 from the floor and 6 of 26 from three-point range. Irvine’s guards Luke Nelson and Jaron Martin would take over in the end to help the Anteaters edge the 49ers 58-54 in an ugly game where there were more fouls than field goals.
On Saturday, LBSU snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a 96-92 double-overtime loss to the Cal Poly Mustangs. The 49ers held an 80-75 lead with 49 seconds left when forward Travis Hammonds rebounded a missed free throw but the officials called the LBSU junior for a flagrant foul. The Mustangs took advantage when guard Reese Morgan made both free throws and hit a three-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.
LBSU would lose Faust and Hammonds to foul trouble and Cal Poly would ride the coattails of senior forward Brian Bennett’s 21 points and 12 rebounds to victory.
LBSU’s next game is on Wednesday when they travel to Santa Barbara to battle the Gauchos at 7 p.m.
