A dominant first half led the first-place Long Beach State men’s basketball team to a 68-55 over UC Riverside Wednesday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (16-10, 11-2 Big West Conference) outscored UCR (9-15, 4-8 Big West) 43-24 in the first half before coming out slow-paced in the second half.
The 49ers shot an unimpressive 27.3 percent (6 of 22) in the second half.
“These guys have had a lot of experience in the last three years, but not a lot with a 20-point lead,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “We’ve got to get better at that, putting people away when we have an early lead.”
Junior point guard Casper Ware added: “We were ready to ball at the beginning of the game, and then once everything settled and we got that comfortable lead, everyone relaxed.”
Ware led The Beach in scoring with 17 points to go with three steals, while fellow junior guard Larry Anderson posted a double-double with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Anderson became just the 20th player in 49ers history to reach 1,000 career points with 1,005 following teammates Ware and junior forward T.J. Robinson, who completed the feat earlier this season.
Robinson finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
“[Reaching 1,000 points] is an honor; the coach gives me a lot of leeway to do what I want to do,” Anderson said. “I want thank my coach and teammates for believing in me.”
LBSU will face second-place Cal Poly (14-11, 9-4 Big West) when conference play resumes next Thursday at the Walter Pyramid. A 49ers win would clinch the Big West regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
The Mustangs defeated Cal State Northridge, 72-49, on Wednesday night.
UCR was led by Phil Martin’s 19 points. Javon Borum added 13 points but shot just 4 of 13.
The first half was all Long Beach as it took a 43-24 lead to the locker room.
The Beach opened up play on a 6-0 run in the first minute capped by a down-court pass by Eugene Phelps to Robinson, who finished with a fastbreak layup.
“I was a little concerned about our focus going into this game,” Monson said. “I was really proud of the way they did come out and the focus they did have to start the game.”
UCR still fought its way back and pulled within 9-8 off a 3-pointer by junior guard Kareem Nitoto. That would be the closest it would get to a lead though, as a potent LBSU offense and swarming defense shut UCR down for the rest of the half.
Over the next four minutes, the ‘Niners went on an 11-3 run to extend its lead 20-11.
A 10-0 run for The Beach in five minutes capped off with back-to-back 3-point shots by Ware gave them a 41-20 lead — the largest of the contest — with 3:57 left in the half.
LBSU shot 45.7 percent (16 of 35) in the half to UC Riverside’s 28.6 percent (8 of 28). Ware and Anderson led the Long Beach attack as they both went into halftime with 10 points. Anderson also reached the 1,000-point plateau in the half.
The 49ers out-rebounded the Highlanders, 45-37, for the game.
“I’m glad we came back from the road and learned something and stayed focused,” Ware said.
The Beach will face Montana at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday as part of the Sears BracketBuster event. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
“We shouldn’t do anything different than what we’ve been doing in league,” Anderson said. “We just have to be real focused, and learn as much as we can about them, so we can come out and execute.”
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