NORTHRIDGE — A team now sits alone atop the Big West Conference men’s basketball rankings, but it is not the Long Beach State 49ers.
LBSU didn’t have an answer for the Cal State Northridge offensive attack and fell at the hands of the Matadors, 95-74, on Saturday.
CSUN (14-12, 10-4 Big West) made the first basket of the game in front of the near sell-out crowd of 1,529 at the Matadome and never looked back, as the Matadors led for the entire contest.
Their 95 points is the most allowed to an opponent by the 49ers this season, and the second-most scored by the Matadors in a victory.
The Beach (14-13, 9-5 Big West) tried to chip away at a CSUN 13-point halftime lead, but poor defense hampered any plan for a comeback. The Matadors seemed to control the offensive pace of the game, and pushed their halftime lead all the way to 28 points at the 10-minute mark of the second half.
The 49ers seemed to run into the same problems that have been plaguing them for the last few games in the contest.
“We’re 2-2 our last four games, and we’re lucky to be,” head coach Dan Monson said. “We haven’t got anybody out of their comfort zone for four games. I like [the team] preparation and focus, but we have to go out and translate that on the court. I didn’t see this coming … I thought we were going to play well today, but I was wrong.”
LBSU finished the game shooting only 42.6 percent from the floor, and going just 7-of-22 from beyond the 3-point line. The 49ers also were outrebounded, 36-28, and outscored in the paint, 44-26.
T.J. Robinson led The Beach in scoring and rebounding with 19 and eight, respectively. Three other 49ers scored in double figures including Larry Anderson, Stephan Gilling, and Donovan Morris. Anderson had 16 points, and Gilling had 12 points by going 4-of-13 from the floor with all of his shots coming from long distance.
One positive note for LBSU was the reemergence of Morris, who has been out with a foot injury, as he had 11 points in 19 minutes.
Another bright spot for the 49ers was that they shot well from the line by converting 15-of-17 free throws in the game, including 12-of-13 in the first half.
The 49ers had to rely on outside shooting in the first half as they were not able to get very many scoring chances inside. CSUN was playing a zone defense, which has given LBSU trouble this season, for most of the first period.
LBSU couldn’t put the ball in the bucket, though, as they shot just 44 percent from the field, and just under 29 percent from long range in the half.
CSUN capitalized on 11 first-half 49er turnovers that gave the Matadors 12 points off of giveaways to just three for LBSU.
The ‘Niners were led in the first half by freshman Anderson, who had 14 points in the half alone. Robinson had eight first-half points, all coming from the free-throw line, as well as five rebounds.
LBSU was outscored 22-16 by the Matadors in the paint, but won the first-half rebounding battle, 15-13.
The loss doesn’t entirely take the 49ers out of a possible regular-season Big West title, but with only two games remaining, The Beach will need some help over the next week to make it a reality.
LBSU still has the inside track to the No. 2 seed in the conference that would give it a trip straight to the semifinals of the Big West Tournament.
“We’re definitely going to come back hard,” Robinson said. “We’re just going to come out and work hard, so that we can win these next two games.”
The 49ers are in action again on the road at Cal Poly-SLO Thursday at 7:05 p.m., and then they finish the regular season at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.