ANAHEIM – The Long Beach State men’s basketball team could have erased all the remnants of a disappointing season with a win on Saturday.
Instead, the 49ers had to watch UC Santa Barbara and its student section celebrate an outright Big West Conference championship at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Casper Ware willed the 49ers back to within striking distance, but it would not be enough as LBSU was denied a berth in the NCAA tournament at the hands of the Gauchos, 69-64.
Ware scored 11 points in the second half, which included three steals and three baskets during a one-minute span.
In the end, LBSU (17-16) had chances to come away with a win, but the missed opportunities piled up and severely hurt its chances of advancing. The 49ers had a key missed free throw, an airball and an offensive foul all with less than 1:20 left on the clock.
“In athletics, you either lose or get beat,” 49ers’ head coach Dan Monson said. “Losing is unacceptable and sometimes you get beat. We got beat today … we just didn’t quite play good enough.”
Stephan Gilling was called for an offensive foul with the 49ers down three points with 10 seconds left and it would prove to be costly as they were called for a questionable foul on the next play and then forced to foul after that.
“We just wanted to get a shot and we weren’t really looking for a 3,” Ware said. “If it was open, we were going to take it, but we really wanted to get to the basket and make them try to foul us.”
UCSB (20-9) converted its free throws down the stretch to seal its berth in the NCAA tournament.
“Officials sometimes play the score and the time, and they assume you’re trying to foul,” Monson said of the late foul call. “We weren’t. … But we put ourselves in that situation where we had to have a break and was just one of many.”
A minute earlier, an errant shot by Ware was followed by a crucial missed free throw by T.J. Robinson.
Ware battled with leg cramps in the contest, but was still able to finish with a team-high 19 points and five steals.
“It happens within a game and I just have to play through it,” Ware said. “I had to change it up a little bit and change the pace. I couldn’t go fast, fast, fast.”
Monson was proud of his sophomore’s performance throughout the entire tournament.
“I thought Cas had an outstanding tournament,” Monson said. “He was cramping up again and we had to take him out with about six minutes left. That hurt a little bit because he was just dominating the game, but we survived it and were able to bring him back.
“The effort he put forth, it was a privilege to coach.”
After trailing for much of the game, LBSU was able to take a one-point lead on a 3-pointer by Greg Plater with 5:09 remaining in the contest.
After that point, Orlando Johnson began to take over for UCSB as he repeatedly reached the free-throw line down the stretch. The Big West Conference Player of the Year converted 11-of-12 free throws to lead the game with 20 points.
The 49ers had four players score in double figures as Robinson and Larry Anderson had 15 and 11 points, respectively, to go along with Ware’s 19. Plater added 14 points off the bench on 4-of-11 from 3-point range.
James Nunnally added 19 points of UCSB on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
The 49ers started the game with the same intensity on defense that they displayed for the entire tournament, but it only lasted for a short time.
UCSB, anchored by Johnson, forced LBSU into mistakes after the first five minutes. This resulted in 10 first-half turnovers for the ‘Niners.
LBSU’s struggles were most evident midway through the half when Artuas Lazdauskas and Ware had back-to-back turnovers on wayward passes. The Beach finished with 15 turnovers in the contest.
The 49ers were also whistled for multiple charging fouls and didn’t reach the free-throw line in the first half.
Despite the miscues, The Beach was able to cut an 11-point Gauchos’ lead to five with two big 3-pointers by Plater. Up until that point, LBSU had struggled from beyond the arc. The ‘Niners went just 4-of-12 from 3-point range in the opening half, and finished the game 6-for-25 from distance.
Even though the 49ers were able to make it to the Big West championship game, Monson said he still believes his team should have accomplished more this season.
Monson said, “I’m disappointed. This program needs to get where we’re measured by winning championships and not by competing for them. … Athletics is about winning and anything short of that is disappointing. … To say we’re going to have a moral victory because we came within five points of going to the NCAA tournament, no.
“I didn’t come to Long Beach State to finish second.”
Game Notes
Ware, Robinson and Anderson were all named to the Big West All-Tournament team, while UCSB’s Johnson was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.