Mike Caffey knew not to shoot too early.
The sophomore guard checked the clock, realized none of his teammates were open and took to the paint. The result was a runner falling neatly through the net which put his team ahead for good with only 1.7 ticks remaining.
The ensuing possession resulted in the second technical foul of the night called on Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold, two converted free-throws by senior guard Pappageorge and the seal on a third straight win for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team.
The Beach (8-8, 4-1 Big West Conference) defeated the Rainbow Warriors (9-7, 3-2) 76-72 and earned itself sole possession of first place in the conference.
“First I drove to look-out,” Caffey said of the last shot. “Definitely no one open and then I came out to check the clock and I saw a gap on the right so I just took advantage of it.”
Caffey led all scorers with 18 points to go along with a game-high six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Papageorge, who scored 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field (all threes) and 6-of-6 from the stripe, said the key was just to keep composure, both individually and as a unit.
“We knew if we could just kind of find the gaps and get to their weakness, we’d get some open shots,” he said. “I think for the team it shows we can finish games. We need games like this. We need to see what we’re made of, see how we can finish games and take care of the ball and make some free-throws.”
The ‘Niners led by ten with 8:52 to play before allowing a 21-11 Hawaii run, which ended with the contest tied at 72.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said the team showed a stronger sense of urgency than it did in Wednesday night’s win over Northridge, but that it is still an area of concern.
“As a coach you feel your losses will come if you don’t get a little bit tighter,” he said. “There were stretches again where we did good, but at home, this team doesn’t have a sense of taking somebody by the throat and ending it. With that being said, this team hasn’t been in a lot of close games like that. I was proud of the fact they didn’t panic and got the stop at the end. “
Guards James Ennis and Deng Deng joined Caffey and Pappageorge in double-figures, scoring 11 and 12. Ennis has now scored at least 10 in 20 consecutive games, while Deng had another stellar shooting night, knocking down 4-of-6 attempts, all from beyond the arc.
Hawaii was paced by Brandon Jawato and Vander Joaquim, who scored 16 and 13, respectively. Jawato shot 6-of-9 from the field, including four makes on six attempts from 3-point land.
LBSU returns to the court Thursday afternoon when it travels to face UC Riverside (4-11, 1-2) at 4:05.