PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Long Beach State men’s basketball team had plenty of chances to pull out a victory in its season opening 69-68 loss to Air Force, at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus Monday night.
With the score 62-61 Air Force with 39 seconds remaining, Aaron Nixon had a free-throw to tie the game – but he missed.
With the score 67-66 Air Force with 14 second remaining, Kevin Houston had a free-throw to tie the game – but he missed.
With the score 67-65 Air Force with nine second remaining, Kejuan Johnson had a free throw to bring the 49ers within one – but he missed.
With the score still 67-65 with eight seconds remaining, Air Force guard Dan Nwaelele missed both of his free throws. Nixon grabbed the rebound and ran up the court, but he lost the ball as he was dribbling.
Nwaelele was fouled again with 3.8 second left, but this time he made both of his free throws. Johnson hit a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer as LBSU lost by one in the first round of the College Basketball Experience Classic.
“It was a hard fought game,” said LBSU head coach Larry Reynolds. “Air Force made us play their tempo and a couple of their shooters were lights out tonight. I like how our team played in the second half. We just couldn’t pull it out at the end.”
The game was one that Johnson, a preseason All-Conference selection, would probably like to forget as soon as possible.
Johnson finished the game going 1-for-9 from the field, scoring a total of four points.
“I think he was very anxious tonight. He is a good player though and he should come back tomorrow and play a good game,” Reynolds said.
After the first half it looked as if both of LBSU’s All-Conference guards were going to have tough night.
Nixon went 0-for-9 in the first half and Johnson went 0-for-6.
Air Force led 30-25 at halftime, but couldn’t fully take advantage of the struggles of LBSU’s top-two guards, as the Falcons turned the ball over 14 times.
The 49ers started a the second half on a 12-4 run in the first three minutes, which was capped by a 3-pointer by Sterling Byrd at 17:03 in the second half.
For the rest of the game, neither team would lead by more than four points.
Nixon recovered from zero points in the first half to lead the team in poins for the game, scoring 17 points in the second half.
Byrd scored 16 points and Houston added 11 for The Beach.
Air Force was led by Jaccob Burtschi, who scored 22 points and was 7-for-14 from the field.
Long Beach State will play again tonight at Stanford against San Jose State, who lost to Stanford Monday night.
