After suffering a last-second defeat at the hands of Creighton University during BracketBuster weekend, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team is looking to get back into the win column as Big West Conference play resumes.
The ‘Niners (19-7, 12-0 Big West) had its 12-game win streak snapped Saturday night as Creighton’s Antoine Young floated-in a runner with 0.3 seconds remaining in the contest, giving the Bluejays an 81-79 victory.
The Beach returns to the court Wednesday at 8 p.m. for its second matchup of the season with Big West rival UC Santa Barbara (15-8, 9-3 Big West).
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said the team will not change its game plan after the tough loss.
“We just can’t change our mindset,” he said. “It’s about just playing the next play, the next game, and not getting too emotional after wins and now after a loss, it’s over, we have to go on to the next one.”
In the previous contest, LBSU pulled away late in the second half and eventually built a 30-point lead, leaving a raucous Gaucho crowd stunned.
Monson said the team will have to improve the way it opens the game in order to defeat UCSB again.
“We didn’t come out and just steamroll them the way it felt like. We went on a run at the end of the half in the second half were able to pull away.”
Monson added: “It wasn’t as easy as it looked. It was a progression and we didn’t jump on them early. It continues to be probably the biggest thing we talk about, how we start and how we finish.”
The Beach, anchored by senior guard Larry Anderson’s game-high 19 points, went on to a 71-48 victory.
LBSU held the conference’s leading scorer, senior guard Orlando Johnson to his second lowest output of the season, just ten points, half of his average. The ‘Niners were also able to hold Johnson’s partner in crime, senior guard James Nunnally to five points on the evening — ten points below his season average.
The blowout win, however, is not indicative of the usual nature of contest between the two rivals, and the ‘Niners expect a more competitive outing from the Gauchos on Wednesday.
Anderson said the loss to Creighton and the fact that UCSB will be looking for revenge will help keep the ‘Niners on task.
“With the long winning streak we probably got our ego a little too big,” Anderson said.
Anderson said in order to grab another victory against the Gauchos, LBSU will have to keep focusing on their game.
“[We need to] box out, run and stay hungry; we were very hungry the first game.”
Senior guard Casper Ware, the Big West’s third leading scorer at 17.3 points per game said the team must move on from its most recent loss in order to be successful in the final four regular season games.
“We just have to focus on Santa Barbara, the big focus is our league,” he said. “We just have to focus on what we can control and that’s tomorrow night’s game.”
Ware added: “They’re going to come in with a chip on their shoulder and come play hard and really get after us. We just have to meet their intensity.”