On Sunday in the ‘Myd, I felt like it was 2005 again and the Long Beach State men’s basketball team was losing a game it should win.  After maybe the best performance of the year on Friday night against Santa Barbara, the 49ers came out two days later and laid an egg for almost the entire first half.  Almost.

I’m so used to seeing LBSU teams play their way out of games like this.  Letting a less talented team dictate tempo.  Trying to shoot their way back into the contest as the Beach made just 4-of-24 shots in the first 17:50.

But then something happened.  It was like Long Beach State woke up, and they did it by controlling the tempo.  They did it by getting hot from the outside. And, of course, using an 18-0 run to rally from a double-digit first half deficit helped a little en route to a 70-57 win over Cal Poly.

Down 12 with a few minutes left in the half, coach Dan Monson surprised the Mustangs with a full-court press that created two quick turnovers.  Then, taking advantage of a sagging defense, Long Beach turned to Greg Plater (5) and Stephan Gilling (4), who combined to make nine 3-pionters on the night.  Four of those came before the break and gave the 49ers the lead headed into the locker room, 32-30. 

Plater finished with a team-high 15 points and Gilling added 14 while both played quality minutes, and both made smart decisions when choosing their spots to launch.

Before the 14-point streak to end the half, The Beach was able to hang around with unusually good free throw shooting. LBSU made its first nine from the charity stripe and finished the half 9-of-10. The 49ers finished 15-of-19 from the line.

The Beach continued to make shots in the second half finishing the final 20 minutes making 50 percent of its shots. The 49ers were even better from 3-point range where they made 6-of-11 (54.5 percent).  Long Beach State out-rebounded Cal Poly 40-37 and held the Mustangs to just 35.6 percent shooting (21-of-59) from the floor and 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from 3-point range. Larry Anderson had 10 points. Freshman T.J. Robinson chipped in eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Long Beach State will take their 2-0 conference record on the road this weekend to Pacific and UC Davis.  If they want to continue to roll, it’s going to be all about the tempo.

With Reports By Long Beach State Sports Information Department