FULLERTON — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team saw its six-game winning streak end as it lost, 89-87, against Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym on Wednesday night.
The Beach (11-9, 6-1 Big West Conference) committed 16 turnovers and allowed the most points since its 96-91 loss in Chapel Hill against the University of North Carolina.
“[If you’re] playing with a bulls-eye on you, you gotta be ready to get hit,” 49ers head coach Dan Monson said.
Junior guard Casper Ware led the way for Long Beach with a career-high 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting and dished out four assists. Junior forward T.J. Robinson recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior guard Greg Plater added 19 points with five of his six field goals coming from beyond the arc, and junior guard Larry Anderson chipped in 18 points and five assists.
Ware thinks the loss to Fullerton (7-12, 3-4 Big West) hurts more than most other losses.
“You never want to loss to a rival team across town,” Ware said.
Even though LBSU shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the field in the second half, it was unable to stop the Titans’ attack and allowed 54 points in the period.
“If you score 87 points and can’t win, you have problems,” Monson said.
In the second half, Ware hit a jumper to put the ‘Niners up 38-37 with 18:59 left to play — it would be the last time it saw a lead in the game.
Down 84-74, Long Beach was forced to foul to stop the clock. The only problem is it had no fouls to spare, allowing CSUF to shoot two free throws every time they were fouled.
The deficit was too much to come back from, though, and the 49ers lost despite scoring 13 points in the final 55 seconds capped by Ware — who hit a last-second, half-court shot.
“[CSUF] got more aggressive with the bounce and the rebounds; they didn’t do anything but bounce it at us and rebound,” Monson said.
The Titans out-rebounded The Beach, 19-11, in the second half. It also shot 33 free throws in the game compared to just 19 for LBSU.
“We just didn’t have any flow the whole game really,” Ware said. “We were just off track the whole game.”
In the first half, both teams experienced up-and-down moments resulting in six tie scores and three lead changes.
After being tied 6-6, Fullerton went on an 8-0 run in the next 2:30. CSUF’s Perry Webster missed a fastbreak layup, but Eugene Phelps was called for goaltending to give the Titans a 22-13 advantage — its largest lead to that point.
The Beach fought back, though, and with a couple 3-point shots by Plater and Ware, and a spin-around layup by Robinson, LBSU was quickly back in the game.
Plater hit a baseline 3 off a Ware assist to give the 49ers their biggest lead of the game, 33-27. After a pair of free throws and a straightaway 3 by Fullerton’s Devon Peltier, the Titans tied the game 33-33 with 59 seconds left in the half.
CSUF’s Jer’Vaughn Johnson hit a buzzer-beating layup over The Beach’s Edis Dervisevic to go up 35-33 at the break.
Johnson led the way for Fullerton with a double-double, knocking in 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
The 49ers will stay on the road as they travel to UC Irvine on Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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