It wasn't pretty, but the Long Beach State 49ers managed to win it's 17th straight home game on Saturday. T.J. Robinson scored 14 points and had 19 rebounds to lead the 49ers to a 76-66 win over the Pacific Tigers in a hard-fought affair at Walter Pyramid on Saturday afternoon. The victory was the 14th straight regular season Big West Conference win for Long Beach State.
In a game that featured seven ties and 10 lead changes, a game in which neither team led by more than six points until the final minute, the 49ers were able to grab the lead for good with 2:55 remaining in the game, on a pair of free throws by James Ennis. The junior guard scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out five assists in the win, and scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half.
A three-pointer by Travis Fulton capped an 8-0 run and gave Pacific a 59-53 lead with 5:47 remaining, but Long Beach State ended the game on a 23-7 run.
Long Beach State got three-point happy in the first half and trailed Pacific 26-24 at the break. The 49ers shot just 26.9% (seven for 26) in the opening half, and 16 of their 26 shots came from beyond the arc. Then again, they only made two of 10 two-point field goals so maybe they were onto something.
In the second half, the 49ers made 50% of their shots (10 of 20), including eight of 10 (80%) on two-point shots. Long Beach State shot an amazing 33 free throws in the second half, and made 30 of them (90.9%) to seal the win. Larry Anderson hit all 10 of his free throws and scored 18 on the night, while Casper Ware scored 20 points to lead the 49ers, even though he was limited with foul trouble.
The next game for the 49ers is Thursday, when they hit the road to face the Cal Poly Mustangs.