It wasn’t pretty for the first thirty minutes, but the Long Beach State men’s basketball team was able to mount a late run and secure its second straight Big West Conference victory Wednesday night.
The Beach (7-8, 3-1 Big West) used a 24-4 run over an eight-minute stretch late in the second half to defeat the visiting Cal State Northridge Matadors (9-7, 0-4) 78-69.
The spurt was highlighted by heightened defensive play, which led to back-to-back steals and layups by sophomore guard Mike Caffey and consecutive 3-pointers later on from senior Peter Pappageorge.
After scoring just two points in the first frame, Caffey ended the night with 14 to go along with two assists and four steals.
The Beach kept itself in the contest early behind the hot shooting of freshman Deng Deng, who scored a career-high 18 points in the first half alone. Deng shot 6-of-14 from the field on the night and 5-of-12 from behind the 3-point line. He also added three rebounds and three blocks.
“I had a couple good days in practice so my rhythm was there, and coming into the game I was very confident in my shot,” Deng said. “They were leaving me wide open, so I was just doing my job and helping the team. After [making the first 3-pointer] you hit a rhythm and they just keep falling.”
Junior Keala King had the best overall game for the ‘Niners, tallying 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said he is disappointed with the lack of urgency the team showed for most of the contest.
“I think this team really has trouble sustaining things,” he said. “I think this could be a good basketball team, we just have so far to go. We’ve got a long way to go to be as sound as we need to be to win this league.”
Monson, however, also attributed some of LBSU’s struggles to CSUN’s style.
“I thought Northridge did a great job,” he said. “Their zone really bothered us. They came in here and they, for thirty minutes, out-scrapped us and out-toughed us on the boards. You have to give them credit.”
James Ennis extended his streak of double-digit scoring to 19 games, and he needed every minute to do so.
The senior guard had just one point at the half and six with 1:37 to play. He converted a pair of free-throws to bring his total to eight and then threw down a thunderous two-handed jam with 37 ticks remaining to keep the streak alive. He also compiled six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
The Matadors were anchored by sophomore forward Stephan Hicks, who tallied a game-high 26 points to go with eight boards.
Sophomore forward Stephen Maxwell was the only other Matador in double-figures, scoring 10 to accompany his game-high 13 caroms.
The Beach returns to the court Saturday afternoon when it hosts Big West newcomer Hawaii (9-6, 3-1 at 4:05.