Santa Barbara, CA – The Long Beach State men’s basketball team looked like a squad that had payback on their minds Saturday evening, as they beat up on UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome.
The 49ers pounded the Gauchos 71-48 behind a focused defensive effort which saw the ‘Niners lock down UCSB’s two top scorers.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said senior’s Casper Ware and Larry Anderson took the defensive matchup personally.
“Casper [Ware] and Larry [Anderson] were very disruptive defensively.” He said, “Both of them stayed very disciplined, this [tonight’s game] and Xavier were our two best performances of the year.”
Ware said that their defensive game plan was to limit the Gauchos stellar scoring duo of senior guards Orlando Johnson and James Nunnally.
“We knew going in if we slowed them [Johnson and Nunnally] down we had a good chance of winning the game.” He said, “Our focus was to make them score under 28 [points] combined, and we hit that goal.
Ware and Anderson were able to hold Johnson and Nunnally to just 15 points combined on 5 of 22 shooting. The Gaucho twosome only put two points on the scoreboard in the first half on 1 of 9 from the field.
LBSU (14-6, 7-0 Big West) has been questioned throughout this season about their slow starts, but tonight was a different story. The ‘Niners took a 36-23 lead into the break, and coach Monson said his team was much more honed in for this game.
“No question [LBSU was more focused from the beginning].” He said, “I think it helps when we respect them so much, [there was] a sold out crowd, [the game] was on national T.V., there were a lot of reasons to be focused today.”
Ware said being ousted by UCSB (9-7, 4-2 Big West) in the last two Big West Conference tournaments played a big role in the way he and his teammates played.
“Losing that conference tournament [last year] built up so much pain inside.” He said, “We finally got to let it out on them [UCSB] instead of somebody else.”
While the 49ers smothering defense stunted the Gauchos offense, LBSU was able to soundly execute their offense against the zone defense that UCSB hoped would give them the edge.
The ‘Niners shot 58.7 percent (27 of 46) from the field, including 9 of 20 from 3-point range, while holding the Gauchos to just 35.1 percent (20 of 57) shooting.
Anderson led the scoring charge for LBSU with 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 5 from behind the arc. Ware had an efficient night as well, scoring 14 points on 5 of 10 from the field, while dishing out five assists.
Junior wing James Ennis finished with 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting, including two spectacular momentum altering dunks. Senior T.J. Robinson picked up another double-double with 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting while pulling down 11 rebounds.
Ware said coach Monson wanted the team to attack the Gauchos zone defense.
“Coach [Monson] said don’t get stagnant with the zone.” He said, “[He wanted us to] move around, attack it, and act like we were playing a man [to man] offense.”
Anderson called this performance the best that this squad has put together all season long.
“Yeah it was [our best performance], by far.” He said, “Everybody was really engaged, and we came out and executed really well.”
The 49ers offense kicked into high-gear in the the second half, mounting a 15-2 run that helped them extend their lead to 31 points, their largest of the contest. The Beach never looked back on their way to a 23-point victory.
The Gauchos were led by freshman forward Alan Williams who finished the contest with 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting, while pulling down 3 rebounds.
The 49ers look to keep their perfect record in the Big West intact when they travel to UC Riverside on Thursday, Jan. 26.
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