ANAHEIM — For the last 364 days, the University of the Pacific has a been a thorn in the side of the Long Beach State men’s basketball team. On Friday, the 49ers pulled that thorn out.
LBSU (17-15) avenged a three-game losing streak to the Tigers with a 68-61 win to advance to Saturday’s Big West Conference championship game at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Pacific (20-11) was the team that ended the 49ers’ season last March in the semifinal round of the Big West tournament, but The Beach was able to exorcise those demons thanks to big first-half lead.
It was by no means an easy win, however, as the Tigers cut what was at one point a 16-point lead all the way down to just three with 4:33 left in the game.
After controlling the first 25 minutes of the game, LBSU hit a skid as Pacific gained the momentum over the next 10 minutes to put a serious scare into the 49ers.
“I thought our effort level was very extreme today, and almost to a fault,” 49ers’ head coach Dan Monson said. “We fatigued in the second half. That’s the third straight game that we’ve played great defense, not good but great, in the first half and then fatigued into giving up 40 or more points in the second half.”
It was Casper Ware’s game, though, and the sophomore showed why he is the 49ers’ floor general. Ware scored 15 points in the second half to lead LBSU down the stretch. The point guard’s key run came halfway through the the second half when he converted consecutive layups to help slow down Pacific.
Ware finished with a game- and career-high 22 points and six assists and hit 10-of-11 free throws to lead LBSU.
Larry Anderson also turned in his second-straight impressive performance with 14 points and went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Stephan Gilling was the other 49er to score in double figures as he went 4-of-6 from 3-point range to collect 12 points.
T.J. Robinson, LBSU’s leading scorer, had an off night and only scored five points in 22 minutes of action. He was largely hampered by foul trouble in this contest.
Anderson said that the team is becoming more cohesive and it helped earn The Beach its first three-game winning streak of the season.
“I think we are just really confident,” Anderson said. “A month ago we were down, we had no energy and our chemistry was suspect. Now we’re peaking, we’re gelling and everybody’s getting along.”
Pacific was led by Joe Ford with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Sam Willard and Allen Huddleston also scored in double figures.
After the first five minutes of the game saw both teams combine for just 16 points, the 49ers flipped a switch and began to impose their will on offense.
LBSU took a 34-21 advantage into the locker room after a balanced scoring attack led by Gilling. The senior converted on three of his five 3-point attempts for nine points in the opening period.
Five 49ers scored more than five points in the opening half. Robinson was not one of those five as he was held scoreless in just eight minutes of action in the first half.
On defense, The Beach stole the ball six times – with Ware earning four of those takeaways in the first half – which eventually led to a 16-5 margin in points off turnovers. They also held the Tigers to just 30.8 percent (8-of-26) shooting from the field.
The Beach will look to erase a disappointing regular season with a win when they take on UC Santa Barbara at 5 p.m. in the championship game. The contest will be televised on ESPN2.
LBSU split the season series with the Gauchos as both teams picked up home wins. The last time that the ‘Niners took part in the Big West championship game was in 2007 when they defeated Cal Poly. It was also the 49ers’ last trip to the NCAA tournament.