The Long Beach State men’s basketball team lost its head coach less than 5 minutes into the contest with Utah State on Tuesday night.
By halftime, LBSU was already out of contention.
The 49ers (5-5) never led in an 81-53 blowout loss to the Aggies (6-2) at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah.
With the ‘Niners trailing 11-2, LBSU head coach Dan Monson was given a technical foul and then immediately ejected after making contact with an official at the 15:36 mark of the first half.
Monson reportedly exchanged words with the USU bench — and guard Brockeith Pane, in particular, enraged the fourth-year head coach.
“I thought one of their kids was taunting our bench a couple times in a row,” Monson said in a release. “I got on the court which is an automatic technical but you will have to ask the officials why I got the second one because I don’t know. All I did was explain what was going on, in my mind.
“This is a tough trip and a tough place to play. I knew we were going to have to play awful well today and we didn’t do it.”
Eugene Phelps, who played despite a slight separation in his left shoulder, connected on his first 3-pointer of the season to pull the ‘Niners to within 28-23. However, the Aggies closed the half on a 9-2 run to take a 37-25 lead into the break.
The momentum carried into the second half, as USU led by as many as 30 points with under 10 minutes to play.
Three Aggies players scored in double figures led by Pooh Williams’ game-high 19. Forward Tai Wesley added a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Casper Ware finished with 11 points and seven assists to lead the 49ers, but shot just 3-of-12 from the field.
As a team, LBSU shot a dismal 32.8 percent (19-of-58) and watched USU drain 10 3-pointers.
The Beach will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face the North Carolina Tar Heels at 4 p.m. PT on Saturday.
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