Sometimes, even having the best player on the floor isn’t enough to sustain a halftime lead against one of the best teams in the country.
The Long Beach State men’s basketball team found that out the hard way on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Senior guard Casper Ware scored a career-high 29 points, but it wasn’t enough as the No. 4-ranked University of North Carolina rallied from a five-point deficit to hand the 49ers an 84-78 loss at the Smith Center.
The loss marked the fourth for the ‘Niners (4-5) in the last five games and third against a ranked opponent this season.
“It’s been a long week for the team, between traveling to Kansas, traveling here, and trying to get two days of school in, but I thought they fought really hard,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “We aren’t here for moral victories. We feel like we can play in these games and sometimes you just have to say that you got beat, and I don’t think we lost to them.”
Monson added: “I think they had to beat us and for that I think that’s acceptable. A couple of games this year I think we lost and that’s unacceptable. The team really tried to do what we asked for them to do and we just came up short.”
North Carolina (8-2) rallied from a 45-40 deficit with a 22-8 run over a seven-minute stretch to take an 11-point lead — its largest of the contest — with 8:41 left to play.
LBSU responded, though, and had an opportunity to cut the lead to three in the final 30 seconds, but 3-pointers by senior guard Larry Anderson and freshman guard Mike Caffey rimmed out.
Ware connected 12 of 24 shots, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range, to go with five assists. Anderson added 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, while senior forward T.J. Robinson finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for his 43rd career double-double.
Junior forward John Henson led UNC with 24 points on a stellar 12-for-17 from the field. He also had 10 rebounds and four blocks. Sophomore forward Harris Barnes added 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting, while senior center Tyler Zeller chipped in with 17.
In addition, UNC point guard Kendall Marshall tied his career high with 16 assists for the Tar Heels, while Zeller’s hook shot 90 seconds in gave him 1,000 career points.
Tar Heels reserve Reggie Bullock scored 15 points off the bench to give his team a huge lift, which included two 3-pointers during an 8-0 run. The second 3 snapped a 59-all tie and started the surge that ended with Henson’s dunk off a feed from Bullock for the 72-61 cushion it needed to come away with the win.
The Beach used a 9-0 spurt in the final two minutes of the first period to build a five-point halftime advantage after trailing by as many as eight midway through the period.
North Carolina shouldn’t have been surprised that it was in for another epic battle with 49ers. Long Beach shredded the Tar Heels defense last December, cutting a 17-point second-half lead to two points with about eight and a half minutes left before UNC’s offense carried the Tar Heels to a 96-91 victory.
This season, the 49ers won at then-No. 9 Pittsburgh and cut a 19-point deficit to five with 3 minutes left in Tuesday’s 88-80 loss at No. 13 Kansas.
In last year’s meeting, Robinson scored a career-high 31 points and the 49ers shot 52 percent with 10 3-pointers.
This time it was Ware who guided LBSU to within striking distance as UNC made nine of its first 12 shots. He scored 21 first half points, 16 coming in the first nine minutes of the game. Ware hit 4 of 6 3s in the half, while connecting 8 of 13 shots.
Anderson spearheaded the LBSU rally late in the first period, though, as he scored all seven of his first-half points in the final 90 seconds. He drained back-to-back 3-pointers in a 24-second span before adding a free throw by the end of the period.
The Tarheels narrowly outshot the ‘Niners with a 51.5 percent clip from the field (35 of 68), while LBSU made 47.1 percent of its shots (33 of 70).
One of the key differences, however, proved to be The Beach’s 3-point shooting, which went ice cold in the second half. After draining 7 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first period, the ‘Niners missed all eight of their attempts in the second half.
LBSU will return to action to face Eastern New Mexico at the Walter Pyramid on Monday, Dec. 19 at 8:05 p.m.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.