BOX SCORE
The Long Beach State men’s basketball team was running uphill all night on Thursday. Two weeks after holding Eric Wise to 12 points on 2-for-8 shooting, the 49er defense allowed the Irvine sophomore to rack up 20 points and a game-high six assists.
His play late helped spark a 15-4 UC Irvine run in the final 3:24 to break open a tight game and hand Long Beach State a 71-60 Big West Conference loss at the Bren Events Center last night.
Everything that Long Beach wanted to do didn’t seem to click. They wanted Casper Ware to get involved (1-for-9, 4pts) and keep the Irvine guards quite like they were in the ‘Myd two weeks ago (Darren Moore and Michael Hunter, 10pts each). Long Beach State (8-11, 2-4 Big West) shot just 31.7 percent (20-of-63) for the game, including 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from 3-point range. The Beach went 0-for-8 from three in the second half.
Larry Anderson led Long Beach State with 20 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Eugene Phelps chipped in a double-double with career-high tying 14 points and 10 rebounds and T.J. Robinson added 10 points and seven boards.
Eric Wise led UCI (9-10, 3-4 Big West) with 20 points, seven boards, six assists and four blocks. Adam Folker added 14 points, while Darren Moore and Michael Hunter chipped in 10 points each. Hunter started the 17-4 run late in the game with five straight points including a 3-pointer to push the lead to five. He had seven of his 10 points during the decisive stretch.
Long Beach State came out of the half down just two, but watched Folkner score back-to-back buckets to push the lead to six. Folkner was averaging just 3.2 points coming into the game.
The Beach battled back tying the game 35-35 on a layup by Anderson, but UCI went on a six-point run of its own to build the lead back to six. The 49ers could never get closer than two, the last time coming on a dunk by Phelps with 4:15 to play.
It was a struggle for the 49ers in the first half as well, but they still went into the break down just two. LBSU hit just 7-of-28 shots (25 percent) but managed to keep it close at the line where they made 12-of-13 (92.3 percent). LBSU entered the game shooting just 61.8 percent from the line for the season and 57.6 percent in conference games. The 49ers finished making 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
It looked like the Anteaters may pull away in the first half as they built their lead to as many as 10, 27-17. LBSU staged a late rally outscoring UCI 11-3 in the final 4:42 to give it a chance going into the second half.
Anderson led the 49ers before the intermission with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. A 67-percent free throw shooter heading into the game, he was 6-of-6 from the line. Eric Wise led UCI in the first half with 11 points, four boards and three assists.
With Reports From LBSU