ANAHEIM — Long Beach State’s men’s basketball team sure picked the right time to start clicking.
Larry Anderson and the rest of the 49ers turned in one of their most complete performances of the season en route to a 79-69 win over Cal Poly on Thursday.
It was the 49ers’ defense, however, that shined and earned them a trip to the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament.
After leading by 13 points at the half, LBSU (16-15) let the Mustangs get within two points at the 10:17 mark of the second half. Cal Poly (12-19) would not score another basket for nearly seven minutes as The Beach turned up its defense down the stretch.
“I was really pleased with our mindset and mentality coming out,” 49ers head coach Dan Monson said. “We really did a good job of attacking both offensively and defensively.”
In the end, the 49ers came up with 11 steals, six blocks and caused 14 turnovers as they played with the same intensity that they displayed earlier in the season.
Even with the effort on defense, Monson still feels that the team needs to improve if they want to reach the NCAA tournament.
“When we needed it, we got back to the defense that [we played in the first half],” Monson said. “You can’t win a tournament with the lapses … we’ve got to put four halves together. … We have got to play better basketball these last two games, if we’re lucky enough to get two games.”
Anderson reached the free-throw line 16 times and finished with 16 points and a team-high five assists. The sophomore went 12-of-16 from the stripe and also finished with seven rebounds.
“I thought that was the best game Larry’s had in a month,” Monson said. “He’s excited and hopefully he can sustain that. He was more aggressive. … I thought the best thing he did is he was active in there, giving us a third guy rebounding.”
T.J. Robinson led LBSU with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and eight rebounds. Eugene Phelps added 12 points and a game-high four blocks. Stephan Gilling also contributed 13 points with three 3-pointers.
Jordan Lewis led Cal Poly with 14 points while Will Taylor picked up a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The 49ers controlled just about every facet of the game in the first half. LBSU took a 12-point lead with just over three minutes off the clock to start the game. Gilling hit two 3-pointers during the stretch to ignite the pro-LBSU crowd.
Anderson helped to create offense for The Beach with three assists in the opening period, including a couple of no-look passes. LBSU finished the game with 13 assists to just eight for the Mustangs.
LBSU led by double digits for much of the half thanks in large part to forcing nine first-half turnovers and had seven steals. All five starters collected a steal in the in half.
With the win, The Beach advanced to play Pacific at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. The Tigers swept LBSU this season and eliminated the 49ers in last year’s Big West tournament.
“I think tomorrow we’ll be ready for them,” Gilling said. “The first two games, we weren’t really there and we weren’t really together. … This is a whole different feeling that we have going on in this tournament and we’re ready for this next game.”