The 49ers clinched the #3 seed with some help on the final day of play, but that might not be fortuitous. A win on Thursday night means a date with Pacific on Friday. The Tigers are 2-0 against Long Beach this year. Come back to LBPOSTsports.com for the Beach Sports Radio/SportsNight: All Basketball Show this week. Stay tuned for the preview and coverage schedule.

 

Reports From LBSU

A weird and whacky final weekend in the Big West Conference ended with Long Beach State settling into the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big West Conference Tournament in Anaheim.

The Beach finished the regular season with an 8-8 conference record thanks to a nail-biting win over UC Riverside on Friday night. That win, coupled with Cal State Fullerton being swept at home by Pacific and UC Davis (who also won at Cal State Northridge) and Cal Poly losing at home to UC Irvine in the final three days of the season, pushed the 49ers into the three seed where they will get a bye in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

LBSU will play one of three teams at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center. The 49ers could meet No. 6 Cal Poly, No. 7 UC Irvine or No. 8 Cal State Northridge. LBSU is guaranteed to meet the lowest remaining seed from the first round winners.

On Wednesday, No. 5 Cal State Fullerton faces No. 8 Cal State Northridge and No. 6 Cal Poly plays No. 7 UC Irvine in a rematch of Saturday night’s UCI overtime win that eventually pushed LBSU from the fourth seed to the third seed. If The Beach wins its quarterfinal game on Thursday, it will advance to Friday’s semifinals where the 49ers will play No. 2 Pacific at 8:30 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara earned the first seed, while UC Davis is the fourth seed.