GAME OVER – UC Riverside wins 73-70
Ware misses a three at the buzzer and Long Beach loses a really tough game. They’re now 7-4 in conference, one half-game behind Northridge for first place in the Big West. Riverside improves to 6-5 in conference and have now won three straight.
A career-high 25 for Anderson, 14 for Gilling and 13 for Robinson.
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0:05.1 remaining – Highlanders lead 73-70
Ware drives and throws Robinson a pass he wasn’t ready for, as the 49ers turn it over again. Riverside has a chance for the lead. Scott scores, while Ware loses the ball again and Highlanders take control with the lead.
Anderson fouls out and Riverside goes to the line for two shots. Borum makes two for the three-point lead, and the 49ers call timeout.
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1:45 remaining – 49ers lead 70-68
Austin scores over Robinson, who – by the way – needs to get involved. Am I psychic? Robinson is fouled and makes two freebies. 49ers get a stop and have a chance to take the lead.
Ware gets into the lane and hits another teardrop for the lead. There is nothing more important to this team than point guard penetration.
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4:00 remaining – Game tied at 66
Anderson hits a jumper, and Austin counters. What a game for Anderson. Long Beach is on a 9-2 run. Ware goes to the line. I need a ventilator.
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WE’VE GOT DOUBLE-OT, FOLKS
Ware milked the clock all the way down until he found Larry Anderson (of course), who nailed a jumper with 0:00.2 remaining. I swear, this team is going to send me into cardiac arrest at the age of 24.
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0:28.7 remaining – Highlanders lead 64-62
Ware hits a teardrop and Sean Cunningham heads to the free-throw line. He misses both and the 49ers have it.
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1:00 remaining – Highlanders lead 64-60
Aaron Scott scores and then Ware puts up an airball. Jump ball goes to Long Beach, but Anderson throws it away. Waaaaaaaay too many turnovers.
NinerDave hits the nail on the head in the Comments section.
Riverside’s Brandon Dowdy is called for a charge and the 49ers absolutely need a bucket right now. Gilling hits a three for the first points of overtime. Gotta foul and hope that Riverside misses the easy ones.
GILLING WATCH: 3-9 from three
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2:00 remaining – Highlanders lead 62-57
The 49ers need a break. Gilling misses another three and Riverside calls timeout. At least they got a shot off that time.
GILLING WATCH: 2-8 from three.
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3:00 remaining – Highlanders lead 60-57
Austin made one of two and the Highlanders are on an 8-0 run. The 49ers then turn the ball over, which they have done on five of their last six possessions.
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4:00 remaining – Highlanders lead 59-57
Riverside draws first blood. The Beach turns the ball over again, and then Brian Freeman fouls out with a hack on Kyle Austin, who will go to the line.
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We’ve got OVERTIME, folks.
Casper lost the ball out of bounds with 0.9 remaining. Anderson inbounded the ball to Plater, who narrowly missed a game-winning three. It’s the Beach’s fifth overtime game this season.
My thought is, why not get a back-screen for Anderson to set up an alley-oop near the hoop? Am I right?
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0:15 remaining – Game tied at 57
Riverside’s Aaron Scott cleans up a Sean Cunningham miss to tie the game. The Beach went to Anderson on the previous play and turned it over, so Long Beach never even got a shot off.
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1:08 remaining – 49ers lead 57-55
Riverside’s Javon Borum makes one of two free throws and Long Beach calls timeout before a crucial possession.
You’ve gotta go to Ware in this situation, right? Riverside is double-teaming Robinson, and Anderson isn’t as good as creating his own shot off the dribble.
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1:30 remaining – 49ers lead 57-52
Long Beach has gotten nothing out of T.J. Robinson in the second half, but Anderson has picked up the slack and Casper Ware finally awakes from his hibernation with a coast-to-coast drive for two. The 49ers finally regain the lead and force a Riverside timeout. This is exactly the kind of thing Ware is capable of; turning around a ball game with his quickness. Ditto for Anderson‘s athleticism. He’s limited only by his own imagination, and hung in the air against the taller Austin for the bucket and foul to take a lead. Makes the free throw for a five-point lead.
Gilling misses another three while Robinson cleans it up and in.
GILLING WATCH: 2-7 from three
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6:00 remaining – Highlanders lead 50-48
Anderson can’t convert one of his trademark baseline drives, but Freeman is there for the rebound and gets fouled going back up. He makes one of two. Where is Ware?
Gilling hits a three from the corner, then misses long on the next attempt. Anderson finally breaks free and throws down a windmill. Is this his coming out party?
Long Beach getting beat up on the inside though, and Riverside maintains the lead.
GILLING WATCH: 2-6 from three
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Thanks Sparky for commenting, I completely agree! It was so hard to watch Morris limping around against UC Davis. He was obviously hindered, especially on defense. If he can’t be efficient with the ball (and he can’t with that foot injury), then he needs to rest up and get ready for the conference tourney.
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9:21 remaining – Highlanders lead 42-41
Long Beach has really struggled finding their groove as Riverside takes a lead. Greg Plater and Cornel Williams have gotten plenty of time on the court, which is a definite postive, but the offense has also stalled. T.J. Robinson re-enters the game after a long rest and Long Beach will need to turn up the heat to frustrate Riverside. The 49ers turned 9 turnovers into 12 points in the first half but haven’t gotten many easy buckets since.
On the next possession, Robinson is called for an offensive foul. Even though I’m just listening to the radio feed, I can totally see the team right now. They’re becoming stagnant, which they sometimes do when Casper Ware is having a quiet night. Larry Anderson is leading the team in scoring right now but it all begins with pace, and right now Ware is having trouble controlling the offense. He needs to be the instigator or this team becomes listless.
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Here’s a question as the game takes a break: Would the 49ers be better off right now if Donovan Morris were playing? Sound off in the Comments section below!
Meanwhile, Cornel Williams misses a three and the 49ers seem to be sinking into jumper dependency. They’ve also just entered the penalty and Riverside will shoot free throws the rest of the way.
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12:00 remaining – 49ers lead 41-37
Long Beach hit a three and then Cornel Williams followed up a Ware miss with a tip-in. Riverside’s Sean Cunningham apparently took Williams to the floor after this play and Monson wanted a technical foul, but no call. Cunningham shoots an airball on the next possession. Karma?
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14:00 remaining – Tied at 37
Gilling misses a three from the corner and Ware hits a teardrop to take the lead. Seriously, Stephen. Come on. Riverside’s Kyle Austin then beats his man for the dunk.
GILLING WATCH: 1-4 from three
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15:00 remaining – 49ers lead 35-34
T.J. Robinson hits one of two free throws and Riverside counters with a three, then Gilling misses a long jumper and the Highlanders have a chance to take the lead now. Didn’t I just say to be careful of settling for jumpers?
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UGH! Both teams have nine turnovers. Let’s clean it up, gentlemen! Larry Anderson is your leading scorer with 10 points on 4-7 shooting and about a hundred dunks. T.J. Robinson adds 6 points and 4 rebounds while Eugene Phelps has 5 & 4. Beach also miraculously winning the boards by a 15-14 score.
What were your impressions of the first half?
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HALF – 49ers lead 28-23
Initial impressions: The offense is clicking (shooting 50% in the half) because Long Beach is getting into the paint, converting in transition and controlling the boards. So much so that, as previously mentioned, Riverside was forced out of its trademark man defense into a 2-3 zone. It’ll be interesting to see if they continue with the zone in the second half.
One of my keys to the game was whether or not T.J. Robinson could continue his steady play. Riverside has really keyed on him and he’s only managed a few buckets. But the Highlanders’ focus on Robinson has produced two points for discussion: Robinson‘s ability to score in other ways and Long Beach’s offensive versatility. Facing double teams, he’s put the ball on the floor and hit a pull-up jumper early in the half, which seemed to wow the announcers but anyone that’s really watched T.J. can see that he’s scored so many of his points around the basket this season because it’s easy for him to do so. He’s just as capable of hitting jumpers, but why stay outside when you can score so easily in the paint? If Riverside wants to take away his inside game, Robinson is perfectly capable of stepping out for the fifteen-footer. Plus, he always comes out stronger in the second half.
Also, the 49ers have been able to score inside despite the Highlanders’ focus on interior defense. Precision passing, transition and off-the-ball cuts have made it easy to score – which is probably what prompted Riverside’s switch to the zone.
All that said, Riverside is only down by five and can turn up the defensive heat at any time. Long Beach will have to continue to take care of the ball and not begin to settle for jumpers, which can be tempting against a 2-3.
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1:00 remaining – 49ers lead 28-23
Great stats from the radio feed: Long Beach is outrebounding Riverside – the Big West’s best rebounding team in terms of rebounding differential – 14-11. Also shooting 50% to Riverside’s 43%.
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5:00 remaining – 49ers lead 28-21
Riverside switches to a 2-3 zone, which is odd because their man defense was so effective when they beat Long Beach a few weeks ago. But the 49ers counter by forcing a turnover that leads to an Anderson dunk, and Phelps muscles his way to two more. And just as I write this, Ware finds Anderson on a backdoor cut for an alley-oop jam. He’s a high-flyer Baby!
Anderson has three dunks.
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5:47 remaining – 49ers lead 20-17
There’s a little break in the action so let’s reflect for a second on the tremendous impact that these freshmen have had on the team, as Larry Anderson has played well early and Eugene Phelps is currently headed to the line.
The level of talent that the 49ers have been able to bring in has really been astounding, because the team frankly just doesn’t usually get players like these. A freshman that’s able to step in right away and contribute, let alone lead a team and earn conference player of the week honors, is extremely rare. To have four of them is just an anomaly in the Big West.
I’d say that Phelps has played about as well as we expected any of the freshmen to play, which is to say that he contributes in spurts and has gone through growing pains. But overall it’s easy to see that Phelps has the ability to be a very good player for four years. I would’ve thought that this was the best case scenario for all of the incoming freshmen, but it turns out that the others are head and shoulders more advanced than Phelps right now, and three of them are obviously among the team’s four best players.
The injection of these newbies parallels the fresh new start that the Long Beach State Athletics Department has been going through itself. With this class, coach Dan Monson makes it clear that he will be accepting nothing less than the best – which is what the Department was saying when they hired Monson.
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9:00 remaining: 49ers lead 17-16
I will say that I think the 49ers play better as a team without Morris, for whatever reason. This is odd because D-Mo is by no means a ballhog, or even a primary ballhandler. Maybe they just feel a need to rely on each other more when he’s out. Regardless, Cornel Williams and Greg Plater are getting some serious tick right now, while Brian Freeman added a key putback a few minutes ago.
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‘Niners currently lead 13-10 and FoxSports has the score listed at 2-4. Guh.
GILLING WATCH: 1-3 from three.
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14:00 in 1st – 49ers leading 11-10
Two things I would really like to see tonight:
1. Discretion with the threes
Long Beach digs itself in its deepest holes when the three isn’t falling. Use it as a tool but don’t rely on it. This especially goes for Stephen Gilling – I realize it’s a huge part of his game but about 75% of his attempts are threes and he’s hitting just .348. Just be selective, that’s all I’m saying.
UPDATE: Gilling is currently 1-2 from three.
2. Cut down on the turnovers
They’ve already got four.
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First blood: Game tied at 2-2
Austin nails a jumper for the Highlanders and Anderson counters with a jam. The best thing that can happen for the 49ers tonight is successful penetration to eventually open up the outside jumpers.
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Long Beach State SID Todd Miles just jumped on the mic for a second to comment on Morris, and mentioned that “It may be a plus” for the team with their leading scorer sitting out. Mainly because the other players have a tendency to stand arond and watch when D-Mo has the ball, when they need good offensive flow to beat a team like Riverside.
I agree with that to an extent: in that the need a great all-around offensive game to win tonight. I’m not so sure that Morris is the kind of player that makes teammates stand around and watch because he relies so much on off-ball screens and short pull-up jumpers.
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UPDATE: D-Mo is a no go tonight.
Starting five is Freeman, Ware, Robinson, Anderson and Gilling.
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I understand the Big West wanting to charge fans to watch the games online, but… wait, no I don’t.
They do realize that we can listen to the game on radio and follow along on foxsports.com, right? If you’re willing to plop down $9/month for the privilege of watching Big West basketball then good on ya, but I’m content to listen in and follow along.
Click here for the radio feed, and here for the FoxSports GameTrax.
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Well, we’re about ten minutes from tipoff, and the question on every 49er fan’s mind has to be: can Long Beach State continue their winning ways on the road against a team that manhandled them at home? Let’s discuss.
Obviously, Long Beach State was outplayed by UC Riverside the first time around. It was the first blemish on an otherwise perfect conference record that showed the rest of the Big West how to beat the 49ers: by beating them up. The Highlanders played choking defense and Long Beach shot just 33.3% from the field. The 49ers’ five starters shot 7-40. Donovan Morris scored seven on 3-16 shooting. Long Beach would go on to lose their next two at home.
The Highlanders have gone 2-2 since that game, and would love to complete the 49er sweep. Kyle Austin scored 17 the first time around, but Long Beach made him work for it on 14 shots. It was forward Christian Soto who really did the 49ers in, grabbing 13 boards as the Highlanders won that battle 47-33. They were obviously more physical, and it got them the victory down the stretch.
Long Beach has shifted their offensive priorities somewhat, relying heavily on freshmen T.J. Robinson and Larry Anderson as primary scoring options. In theory, this will give Riverside more trouble as they won’t be able to focus on slowing Morris down. But in theory, the 49ers should have outrun the Highlanders at home; so you never know. The Beach rode Robinson in a close loss to Davis and a victory over Pacific, and the forward was rewarded with Big West Player of the Week honors for his efforts. Similarly, Anderson averaged 19.0ppg on 50.0% shooting in those games.
I’ll be curious to see if Morris plays tonight (he sat out Saturday against Pacific), and if he does, to what extent he is used. The 49ers have lost the last three games that D-Mo played in, as he shot his way into a 9-37 slump. Can he be interwoven alongside Long Beach’s four fantastic freshmen, or will be thwart offensive movement by commanding the ball?
What do you think Long Beach needs to do to win?
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Whattup fam. I didn’t have the chance to attend last Saturday’s home game against Pacific, which of course ended up going into Double OT in a one-point 49ers victory.
To make up for this terrible misfortune, I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s road game against UC Riverside (5-5 in conference), in this very column! Come back around 7:30pm as we gear up for the 8:00 tip-off.
Questions to ponder:
Will Donovan Morris be back in action?
Will T.J. Robinson continue his phenomenal play?
Will Long Beach be able to get past the physical Riverside defense?
That and much more coming your way tonight!