The quest for an NCAA tournament berth for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team will run through the Big West Conference tournament beginning on Thursday.
The ‘Niners enter postseason play with a 22-8 overall record, including a 15-1 mark in conference play.
The 49ers only Big West loss came at the hands of Cal State Fullerton last Saturday, 77-74, a game in which LBSU head coach Dan Monson said his team didn’t deserve to win.
“I never think any loss is good,” Monson said. “It exposed some things [that we need to work on]. We didn’t play good enough to win.”
Monson added: “We took a step back in preparation and performance.”
The ‘Niners have three games to get to where they want to be in order to earn their first NCAA tournament berth since 2007. In that game, the 12th seeded 49ers lost a 121-86 contest to fifth seeded Tennessee.
The loss to Fullerton will most likely keep LBSU from attaining an at-large berth, causing the Big West tournament to be that much more important.
The ‘Niners have not had much luck in this situation over the past few years, losing to UC Santa Barbara in the championship game the last two seasons.
“Our job is to go win the Big West tournament,” Monson said. “It’s the goal since we got on campus this year. We need to focus on winning the tournament, we have to beat three teams one last time.”
The first team that stands in the way of the ‘Niners NCAA dreams is No. 8-seeded UC Davis.
In their first matchup back on Jan. 12, the 49ers handed the Aggies an 86-58 beat down at the Walter Pyramid. Senior forward Eugene Phelps led the way for The Beach in that game, scoring 23 points while pulling down 11 rebounds.
Junior wing James Ennis pitched in 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Senior guard Casper Ware scored 11 points on 3 of 10 shooting.
In the two teams’ second showdown of the season, LBSU was victorious once again. The 49ers defeated Davis 89-69 in a record-setting game for Ware and senior forward T.J. Robinson.
Ware became the top assist man in LBSU history, passing Billy Walker. With 11 rebounds, Robinson became the leading rebounder in Big West history, passing Tony Neal of CSUF.
LBSU will be missing a big piece of their team, however, as senior guard Larry Anderson is unlikely to play after suffering sprained MCL in his right knee against Fullerton last Saturday.
According to Monson, freshman guard Mike Caffey will most likely be Anderson’s replacement in the starting lineup on Thursday because the Aggies are a more perimeter oriented team.
The Aggies come into the Big West tournament with a 5-25 overall record, including just 3-13 in conference play.
Ryan Sypkens leads the Aggies attack, averaging 14.5 points and five rebounds per game. Sypkens averages 9.3 3-point attempts per contest, making 37.8 percent from behind the arc.
Sophomore Josh Ritchart is also a player to watch. The 6-foot-9 guard/forward hybrid averages 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Ritchart is coming off a 20-point, eight-rebound performance in an upset win over CSUF back on Feb. 25.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Honda Center.