And then there were four.
After day one of Big West tournament action at the Honda Center, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team remains atop the field.
The top-seeded ‘Niners defeated a short-handed Cal State Fullerton squad 75-66 in the opening round Thursday night.
Despite missing two of its top three scorers in D.J. Seeley and Sammy Yeager, Fullerton kept the game close and even brought it to within four late in the second half, but The Beach had an answer for every run.
James Ennis and Mike Caffey led the charge as The Beach secured its third victory over the eighth-seeded Titans this season in as many contests.
Ennis extended his double figure scoring streak to 36 games, finishing the night with a team-high 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The senior guard cut his finger on the rim while attempting a ferocious one-handed dunk which came up short due to a foul. He said after the game that it affected his shot a little bit but should be fine for the second round tomorrow.
“It didn’t stop me from continuing to rebound and go hard,” he said.
Caffey added 10 points, six boards, four dimes and two steals.
Deng Deng and Peter Pappageorge joined the two starting guards in double-figures scoring 12 and 10, respectively.
The Beach, now 7-1 all-time against the Titans in the Big West tournament and winners of the last six matchups, crushed Fullerton in the rebounding department, compiling a 37-18 edge on the glass. The 49er bench also outscored the Titans 25 to four.
“Our bench is strong so it’s a blessing to have them come in the game for us and take the pressure off the starters,” Ennis said.
The Titans were paced by Kwame Vaughn and Alex Harris, who scored 19 points apiece. The two guards added five and four assists, respectively.
Jordan Knox added 12 points and five assists for Fullerton on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point land.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said his team did enough to win, but that it will have to re-focus in order to continue advancing in the tournament over the next two days.
“Whenever you start a tournament, whether it’s a one versus eight or four versus five, getting that first game under your belt is paramount,” he said. “Just surviving, that’s really all we did today. We had some chances to blow it open but we just couldn’t get over the hump. The bottom line is we’re 80 minutes from going to the NCAA tournament, we’ve got this behind us and now we’ve got to focus for tomorrow.”
LBSU will go on to face fourth-seeded UC Irvine in Friday’s semifinal at 6:30 p.m. The Anteaters defeated No. 5 Hawaii 71-60 Friday night.
The other semifinal tilt will be between No. 2 Pacific and No. 3 Cal Poly.