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On the road, playing No. 25 Wisconsin in the Kohl Center, the 49ers put quite a scare into those Badgers, but Wisconsin made one or two more plays than Long Beach State, and defeated the 49ers 68-61. <\/span>LBSU is now 0-2, having lost to Wisconsin and BYU by just a combined 17 points, much better than most expected them to do on the road against two tough opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n Sunday’s game against Wisconsin didn’t just look close, either—Long Beach really almost knocked them off, in a game local fans were able to watch in high definition on the Big Ten TV network. <\/span>How close was the upset? <\/span>With 1:04 left in the game, and trailing by just one point, Donovan Morris—who was held to just 12 points on 5-17 shooting in the game—squared and shot a three. <\/span>The ball missed by about an inch, just a touch too hard. <\/span>The Badgers took the rebound down court and, with thirty seconds left, Marcus Landry hit a three pointer to clinch the game.<\/span><\/p>\n One inch. <\/span>Thirty seconds. <\/span>That’s how close this team, which was picked to finish eighth in the Big West by the conference’s coaches, came to beating the number 25 team in the nation. <\/span>And what’s more, it didn’t look like a fluke. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The 49ers played good defensive ball, though they were unable to contain Landry, who finished with 23 points. <\/span>The Big A, Arturas Lazdauskas, was huge off the bench and looks to be a season-long contributor, with 8 points and 9 rebounds, and a much-needed relief presence in the paint. <\/span>28 of the 49ers’ points came off the bench, and 11 players scored for The Beach, demonstrating a depth that they didn’t even remotely have last season. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Backed by his teammates’ consistency, Morris showed his ability to take the game over in the second half. <\/span>Though he was stymied for most of the game, he showed the playmaking ability that makes him special about halfway through the second. <\/span>Trailing by eight, and starting to look like they were falling out of a game they’d been competitive in, D. Mo clicked into another gear—it was obvious to anyone watching, either in Wisconsin or here in SoCal. <\/span>He scored the 49ers’ next 8 points, single-handedly bringing the Beach back into the game, as the score narrowed to 57-55 with seven left in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n “When he gets going and he gets in the flow, he’s as hard to guard as anybody in the country,” Monson told the AP after the game.<\/span><\/p>\n Though they come away with the loss, the 49ers have nothing to hang their heads about—often when coaches schedule games over their teams’ heads, an inability to compete can damage a squad’s confidence. <\/span>But when it pays off, when a team can hang and play with some of the best in the nation—well, then, that’s when the Big West doesn’t look so big anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n The 49ers are next in action on Saturday, November 22nd<\/sup>, when they take on Weber State at 4:05pm in their homecoming match.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more on the game, check out the newest episode of SportsNight, LB’s only source for sports talk radio–we get into the game at about 43:55.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n