On its best shooting night of the season, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team showed off its athleticism Saturday en route to a 77-70 road win over Big West Conference- rival UC Santa Barbara.
On top of shooting 54.2 percent from the field, the ‘Niners (6-8, 2-1 Big West) executed the lob pass throughout the contest, creating a pace with which the Gauchos (5-9, 1-2 Big West) could not contend.
Many of the lobs resulted in dunks from senior guard James Ennis, who finished the night with 18 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Ennis has now scored in double figures 18 games in a row. The streak dates back last season.
After trailing by eight early on, LBSU responded and took a 10-point lead into the break, capitalized by a buzzer-beater from midcourt put in by sophomore point guard Mike Caffey.
Caffey paced the Beach with one of his best overall games of the season, tallying a game-high 19 points to go with nine boards and five dimes.
The Beach scored the first four in the second half, including an alley-oop from Caffey ending with a one-handed throw-down by Ennis, but the Gauchos would then rattle off a 14-0 run to even up the contest. The ‘Niners, however, would never surrender the lead.
Junior forwards Tony Freeland and Dan Jennings also scored in double figures for the ‘Niners, with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Freeland also added eight rebounds.
Ten dunks by LBSU led to the Beach outscoring Santa Barbara 52-16 in the paint.
The Gauchos were led by sophomore center Alan Williams, who, despite sitting out most of the first half because of foul trouble, contributed 16 points and eight rebounds.
On Thursday, The Beach suffered its first conference loss of the season, falling 79-73 on the road to Cal Poly.
Junior Keala King had his first double-double as a 49er in the losing effort, compiling 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mustangs (7-6, 3-0 Big West) were anchored by senior guard Dylan Royer’s 17-point performance.
LBSU returns to the court Wednesday when it hosts Cal State Northridge (9-6, 0-3 Big West) at 7:05 p.m.