Well, so much for rust.
Fresh off an 11-day layoff, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team jumped on host UC Davis from the start and ran away with a 93-69 victory Thursday at The Pavilion.
Junior point guard Casper Ware led a hot-shooting, balanced attack for the 49ers (14-10, 9-2 Big West Conference). Ware, who shot a perfect 7-of-7, finished with 23 points, seven assists and five steals, while the team shot 64.6 percent (31 of 48) from the field.
Not to be outdone, fellow junior T.J. Robinson, who has had a relatively quiet performance thus far in conference play, emerged with a double-double. Robinson scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go with a team-high 11 rebounds.
“When you have a layoff like that it can go one way or another,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said in a statement. “Certainly it proved to help us. We had a lot of energy and guys were focused. They are in a good place right now.”
Greg Plater (17 points), Larry Anderson (12 points) and Eugene Phelps (11 points) rounded out the double-figure scoring from all five starters. Plater connected on four 3-pointers while Phelps added nine boards.
UC Davis (8-15, 3-8 Big West) had four players finish in double digits led by Mark Payne’s 13 points.
The ‘Niners turned defense into offense, finishing with 21 points off just 12 Aggies turnovers. The Beach also had a 16-4 edge in fastbreak points and a 34-21 advantage on the glass.
“Defensively that is as good a first half as we have played, but we still have a lot to work on,” Monson said. “We have to sustain it better but just getting a road win is good and we move on now and get ready for Northridge.”
The 49ers were sharing the wealth early, as four starters combined for 46 points en route to a 55-28 halftime advantage. The 55 points were the most scored by the 49ers in an opening half this season.
Edis Dervisevic also came off the bench and quickly had three of his four first-half assists in his first five minutes of action. As a team, LBSU had 12 assists at the break and shot 68 percent (17 of 25).
Ware, Plater, Phelps and Robinson all reached double figures in the first 20 minutes led by Ware’s 14 points. The point guard also drained three 3-pointers in the period — the final one to beat the halftime buzzer.
The 49ers raced out to a 21-9 lead in the first nine minutes and never looked back.
LBSU returns to action Saturday on the road at Cal State Northridge. Tipoff at the Matadome is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The Matadors (10-14, 7-4 Big West), currently second in the conference standings, defeated Cal State Fullerton, 70-68, on Josh Greene’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 21 seconds to play.
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