Sometimes you die by it, and sometimes you live by it.
After trailing by 10 at the half, Stephan Gilling made four 3-pointers in a three minute and 36 second span early in the second half to put Long Beach State back in it against Cal Poly last night in San Louis Obispo. Eugene Phelps, TJ Robinson and active defense lifted the 49ers after that and they went on to a 78-72 Big West Conference win at Mott Gym.
Gilling, who was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first half and 0-for-4 after he missed his first one of the second half, finally connected from three with 15:44 to go in the game. He followed with three more threes at 14:57, 12:56 and 12:08 of the second half to cap a 20-10 run by the 49ers (12-12, 6-5 Big West) and allow them to tie the game after falling behind by double digits in the first half. Gilling finished with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from three and 5-of-11 overall shooting.
“We got a couple stops early and got Steph some looks on the break to relax a little bit and shoot the ball in a rhythm,” said coach Dan Monson. “Once that happened it opened everything up on the inside for us again.”
Gilling got plenty of help in the second half as the 49ers shot a blistering 60 percent (18-of-30) after the break, including 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from 3-point range. The Beach finished making 50 percent (28-of-56) from the floor for the game and ran its record to 7-0 when shooting 50 percent or better.
Eugene Phelps added 15 points for Long Beach State, while T.J. Robinson and Greg Plater had 14 points each and Casper Ware chipped in 10 points. Robinson finished with a double-double, his 14th of the season and 19th of his career, grabbing 11 boards. Long Beach State outscored Cal Poly (8-15, 5-6 Big West) 47-31 in the second half.
Cal Poly jumped on The Beach early building its first half lead to as many 13. The Mustangs took a 10-point lead into the break, despite shooting just 41.7 percent. They did it thanks to 10 LBSU turnovers and 11 offensive rebounds. CP outscored the 49ers 15-2 off turnovers in the first half and 12-8 on second chance points.
Shawn Lewis led the Mustangs with 14 first half points (17 for the game), while David Hanson added 10 (19 overall) points before the break. But Lewis suffered severe cramps late in the second half and sat during crunch time. The Beach held Cal Poly’s leading scorer, Lorenzo Keeler to four points on 1-for-8 shooting, in the first half but he finished with 17 points and 10 assists.
The 49ers got nine from Phelps and eight from Plater in the first half but shot just 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from the floor and 20 percent (2-of-10) from 3-point range.
“Gene was really a post presence for us that we needed against that zone,” Monson added.
The Beach will travel less than half way home for another road test at Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon.
Reports From LBSU