The Long Beach State men’s basketball team had mixed results as it traveled to the East Coast this weekend.
On Saturday, the 49ers got walloped by Temple, losing 74-49, but salvaged a split on Sunday, beating Maryland Baltimore-County 57-53.
Against Temple, LBSU (3-4) scored the first five points of the game, but then the Owls took over, going on a 26-2 run to take a 27-7 lead.
By halftime, the game was already in hand, with Temple leading 43-13.
“You have to be ready to perform on the road,” said LBSU head coach Larry Reynolds to the Long Beach State Sports Information Department. “It’s not easy. Things go well the first two possessions of the game for us, but there’s still 38 minutes left to play. It’s good to play good competition.
“Hopefully this will make us stronger and better in the long run. We looked like we were a tired team today. We didn’t have the hop on our step like we normally do.”
Dionte Christmas was the Owls’ leading scorer with 20 points, and the only 49er to score in double-digits was Sterling Byrd with 12 points.
On Sunday, Aaron Nixon scored a game-high 23 points to lead LBSU to its first road win of the season.
LBSU trailed by seven in the second half, but a 16-2 run in the middle of the half was the key for LBSU in the victory.
“It’s always tough to play back-to-back,” Reynolds said. “But back-to-back on the road is real tough. We persevered tonight. We definitely wanted to come back home with a split.”
Women’s Basketball
The LBSU women’s basketball team is still looking for its first win of the season, after losing 66-43 at Utah Friday, and then losing in its most lopsided loss of the year in an 85-41 defeat to South Dakota State.
The 49ers (0-7) were down only by five to Utah (3-4) at halftime, but could only mount 19 points in the second half. Utah out-rebounded LBSU 38-25 in the game.
Against South Dakota State (5-2), LBSU turned the ball over 30 times in the loss and shot 27.1 percent from the field.
LBSU will try and erase the doughnut from its win column when it meets host San Diego Wednesday.