Trailing and without the services of its leading scorer late in the second half Sunday, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team posted a 69-66 come-from-behind victory on the road at Boise State.
The 49ers’ (5-4) backcourt of Greg Plater and Casper Ware combined for 33 of their 37 points after halftime in front of 4,547 fans at Taco Bell Arena.
Plater, who shot 7-of-12 from the field, scored a game-high 21 with the help of a 5-of-9 performance from 3-point range. Ware added 16 points and six assists for The Beach, which trailed by as many as 12 points.
Junior forward T.J. Robinson, who posted an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double, fouled out with 4:06 to play and LBSU leading, 55-52.
BSU (6-1) took a 56-55 lead on La’Shard Anderson’s three-point play with under 4 minutes, but Plater answered with his final 3-pointer with 3:38 remaining.
The Broncos pulled to within a point on Robert Arnold’s 3 with 13 seconds left but, after a pair of Ware free throws, he missed a potential game-tying long-range attempt with 3 seconds to play. Arnold, who finished with 16 points, led a quartet of BSU players in double figures.
“I thought that we really battled,” 49ers head coach Dan Monson said in a release. “Games on the road are not going to be perfect and you have to stay together. To end that game with three guys that haven’t hardly played this year shows what a great team win it was.”
LBSU used a 15-0 run in just over 4 minutes to take its first lead in the second half after back-to-back Plater 3-pointers.
Tristan Wilson scored eight points and pulled down 11 boards in 31 minutes off the bench for the ‘Niners, who shot just under 52 percent (14-of-27) in the second half including 7-of-10 on 3-pointers.
The Beach overcame 14 first-half turnovers, which led to a 25-21 deficit at the break.
LBSU will now travel to Utah State for a 6:05 p.m. start Tuesday.
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