The Long Beach State men’s basketball team was fortunate to have a sixth man like Mike Caffey on Saturday night.
Through the first 34 minutes, the 49ers couldn’t shake off Cal State Northridge. That is until the freshman guard came to the rescue, scoring seven straight points to single-handedly give the ‘Niners the push they needed as they held on for a 75-67 victory in front of a crowd of 4,007 at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach led by as many as nine in the second period until Matadors guard Stephan Hicks scored nine unanswered points to even up the contest. Caffey then responded as he keyed an 11-2 surge with a pair of free throws, a put back bucket and a left wing 3-pointer to give the ‘Niners a 54-45 cushion with 5:23 remaining.
“It was just in the game flow,” Caffey said. “I got a bucket, and then we got a stop. Then we came down and I was wide open and Larry [Anderson] saw me, and I found my shot and made it.”
The victory extended LBSU’s (17-6, 10-0 Big West Conference) winning streak to 10 games, while the Matadors (6-15, 2-8 Big West) dropped their second consecutive contest.
The victory didn’t come as easy as the 49ers had hoped, and LBSU head coach Dan Monson said his team was to blame for the close outcome while crediting CSUN’s relentless effort.
“We definitely took a step back today, and we didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” he said. “You have to give Northridge credit, I thought they did a great job. We could never break them, we couldn’t get separation, but we didn’t have a good focus tonight.”
Monson added: “Obviously we won today, but we have to continue to get better, and today we took a step back.”
Caffey had all 11 of his points in the final six minutes of the game, while the rest of the team was held to just six points down the stretch.
“He [Caffey] was huge,” Monson said. “He had seven straight points there in the gut of the game, and we needed them all.”
Nonetheless, five 49ers scored in double figures on the evening, with senior guard Casper Ware not being one of them as he struggled from the field on the evening. Ware scored just five points on 2 of 15 shooting, including just 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
Senior guard Larry Anderson led the way for the Beach, scoring 16 points on 4 of 9 shooting, hitting on 6 of 10 from the free throw line. Senior forward T.J. Robinson came up with another double-double despite being plagued with foul trouble in the first half. Robinson scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
Junior wing James Ennis scored 11 of his 13 points in the opening period, while Caffey scored all of his 11 points in the second half. Senior Eugene Phelps scored 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting, but connected on just 4 of 14 from the charity stripe.
As a team, The Beach shot just 41.4 percent (23 of 56) from the field, while connecting on just 31.8 (7 of 22) percent of the three-point attempts.
The ‘Niners have no answer for sophomore guard Josh Greene did most of the damage for the Matadors, scoring 26 points on 8 of 15 shooting, including 4 of 5 from behind the arc and 6 of 8 from the free throw line.
The 49ers offense looked sharp to open the contest, taking a 12-4 advantage in the first three minutes of the game.
CSUN answered back with five straight, bringing the lead down to just three, 12-9. Neither team lead by more than five for the rest of the half.
The Matadors were able to keep it close behind 13 points from sophomore guard Josh Greene. Greene dropped 13 on 4 of 5 shooting, including a perfect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.
Northridge was able to keep close with LBSU through the first half, trailing by just two, 37-35 at the break.
The ‘Niners played the last 11:40 without Robinson, who picked up his second foul.
Ennis paced the ‘Niners in the opening period, scoring 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
LBSU shot 46.4 percent (13 of 28), including 41.7 percent (5 of 12) from long distance as a team in the first half.
The 49ers will be back in action on Thursday, when they head up north to take on the University of the Pacific. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m
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