A wild regular season came to a close in the Big West Conference on Saturday night, and the idle Long Beach State men’s and women’s basketball teams now have first-round conference tournament opponents.
In a rematch of Wednesday’s season finale, the No. 6-seeded LBSU women (8-22, 6-10 Big West) will head back to No. 3 UC Riverside (18-11, 11-5 Big West) and the Student Recreation Center for the opening round. Tipoff is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The 49ers lost, 83-65, in the teams’ last meeting.The ‘Niners split the season series, however, picking up a 70-68 overtime victory at the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 17.
The rest of the eight-team women’s field: No. 8 Cal State Fullerton at No. 1 Cal Poly; No. 7 Pacific at No. 2 UC Santa Barbara; and No. 5 UC Irvine at No. 4 UC Davis.
All games will be played Tuesday at 7 p.m.
In a change of format, the top 4 seeds received home-court advantage in the first round before the semifinals (Friday) and championship game (Saturday) move to the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The title game will be televised on Fox Sports Prime Ticket at 1 p.m.
Cal State Northridge was the lone member of the nine-team conference to not qualify for the tournament.
The men’s side
Top-seeded LBSU (20-10, 14-2 Big West) will face No. 8 UC Irvine on Thursday at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
The 49ers, who won the regular-season title for the first time since 2007, split their two games against the Anteaters (13-18, 6-10 Big West) this season. LBSU handed UCI an 86-78 defeat in the Walter Pyramid on Jan. 8, but the Anteaters returned the favor with an 86-76 victory in Irvine on Jan. 22.
But since that loss, The Beach has won nine straight games.
The rest of the eight-team men’s field: No. 2 Cal Poly vs. No. 7 UC Riverside; No. 3 Cal State Northridge vs. No. 6 Cal State Fullerton; and No. 4 Pacific vs. No. 5 UC Santa Barbara, which won the conference tournament last season.
The four winners will advance to Friday’s semifinals and the championship game will be played Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.
UC Davis was the lone member of the nine-team conference to not qualify for the tournament.
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