The Long Beach State men’s basketball team couldn’t avenge last season’s 76 Classic loss to Clemson in the opening round of the Paradise Jam on Friday.
The 49ers (1-2) finished the contest with 21 turnovers resulting in a 69-55 loss to the Tigers at the University of the Virgin Islands’ Sports and Fitness Center.
“I don’t think the effort was the problem,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said in a press release. “I’m disappointed in our level of play. You play in these tournaments to increase your level of play and we played worse today than we did in either exhibition game or regular game.
“You have to give Clemson some of the credit because they sped us up.”
Junior Larry Anderson led The Beach with 14 points by going 6-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. T.J. Robinson finished the game with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds for the 49ers.
Junior transfer Corey Jackson was a perfect 3-of-3 off the bench with eight points in 10 minutes of action for the ‘Niners.
Clemson (3-0) was led by Tanner Smith’s 17 points in the wire-to-wire victory. Meanwhile, Smith’s teammate Andre Young converted on four of his seven 3-point attempts to collect 12 points for the Tigers.
LBSU finished the contest by shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from distance. The 49ers struggled from the free-throw line, however, by converting on just four of their 11 attempts.
Clemson shot an even 50 percent from the field, including a 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) effort from beyond the arc. The Tigers led by as much as 20 points in the second half.
The 49ers used 12 players in the loss, and junior Lin Chang made a rare early appearance midway through the first half. Chang scored eight points in the 49ers’ win over San Francisco State on Monday night.
LBSU will face St. Peter’s (0-2), which lost to Old Dominion earlier in the day, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (PT).
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