By LOS ANGELES – Amidst a scattered, loud crowd in Pauley Pavilion Friday night, 49ers came out firing on all cylinders. The Long Beach State men’s basketball team led for a large part of the first half, but fell 91-80 in competitive match against No. 21 UCLA.
Senior point guard Deishuan Booker led all scorers with 31 points, shooting 5-of-7 on three pointers. Booker also recorded four rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of play.
“I feel like we came out on a good note, with good energy, making shots, deflections,” Booker said. “Over time we got to learn how to keep that going for 40 minutes.”
The 49ers were not fazed by the Bruins, starting off the game with high energy and effectiveness on the offensive end.
Long Beach senior forwards Mason Riggins and Temidayo Yussuf were assigned a tough task matching up with UCLA’s 7-foot-1 freshman center Moses Brown, who carried the Bruins with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
After both teams struggled to make their first few shots, the pace began to pick up and Long Beach jumped out to its largest lead of the game, 20-13. Sophomore forward Jordan Roberts and senior forward KJ Byers both threw down dunks alongside UCLA defenders, taunting defenders as they ran back down the court.
UCLA moved to a zone defense late in the first half which altered the Long Beach offense. The Bruins gained momentum just before the end of the first half after a deep three pointer from sophomore guard Jaylen Hands, making the score 45-41.
“I thought our guys battled and I liked the way we competed,” head coach Dan Monson said.
In the second half, Long Beach continued to match up with UCLA. The Bruins would forced their way into the paint, scoring a flurry of layups and interior points behind Brown and sophomore guard Kris Wilkes. With seven minutes left, UCLA took a 74-64 lead and further extended that into a 81-64 lead with five minutes to play.
From there, it looked like the 49ers were done for. Sparked by two consecutive trips to the line from Byers, Long Beach stormed back with a 10-0 run after using a full-court press on defense. The 49ers forced UCLA into six turnovers throughout the last four minutes of the game, but ultimately fell short after a dunk and free throws put the Bruins over the top.
“It’s a long season and this is just a good benchmark for us, I appreciate UCLA for giving us the opportunity, I think these games make our team a lot better,” Monson said.
Long Beach will travel back home for a 4 p.m. match against Menlo college Saturday.
