The Long Beach State men’s basketball team used a 14-0 run in last two minutes of the first half to put away the Cal Poly Mustangs for good, 70-57, at the Walter Pyramid on Sunday.
The 49ers (7-7, 2-0 Big West Conference) went down 30-18 with just 2:23 remaining in the first half. After an LBSU timeout, Greg Plater took over with 2:07 remaining by converting on 3-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc, which gave the 49ers a lead they would never relinquish.
Plater, a sophomore, made the most of his 11 minutes on the floor as he finished with a season-high 15 points. Entering the game, the 6-foot-1 guard was averaging just 2.5 points per game this season. With leading scorer Donovan Morris struggling from the field, Plater knew the team needed a boost from the bench.
“I was just thinking that I wanted to get in there and contribute any way I could. I felt like that is what I’m supposed to do … that’s my job,” Plater said. “The last couple of games coach [Dan Monson] has been telling me when I get the ball to shoot it, because I have been hesitant. Today when I got a look, I took the shot.”
It took a total team effort in this game as Morris, who has won Big West Player of the Week three times this year, couldn’t find his normal stroke.
The rest of the team picked up the slack as three players scored in double figures. Junior guard Stephan Gilling continued to pour it on from long range, hitting on four of his seven 3-point attempts and finishing with 14 points.
Freshman Larrry Anderson added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench for the 49ers. Fellow freshman T.J. Robinson had eight points and tied with two others for a team-high seven boards.
Cal Poly (3-9, 0-2 Big West) was led by senior guard Chaz Thomas, who scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half. The Mustangs also had three players score in double figures. Lorenzo Keeler and Titus Shelton each had 10 points.
The Mustangs shot just 35.6 percent from the field and only 27.8 percent from long distance. LBSU shot 39.3 percent from the floor, but 40.7 from beyond the arc to clinch their sixth win at home this season. The 49ers won the rebounding battle for the second straight game by pulling 40 boards to 37 for the Mustangs.
One area where LBSU improved from their previous game, against UC Santa Barbara, was its free-throw shooting. The 49ers went 9-of-10 in the first half and finished the game 15-of-19 from the charity stripe.
The first 17:53 looked eerily similar to the 75-61 rout by Montana State that gave the LBSU their only home loss this season. But the team was re-energized, both on offense and defense, by the late first-half scoring barrage led by Plater.
While Monson was content with the win, he knows this is no time for the team to be losing focus because there is a real possibility that only one Big West team will make it to the NCAA Tournament in March.
“Our program is making progress, but I’m not sure our team is making progress and that is what scares me. Being upset with our guys this time of year is not good,” Monson said. “We’re not a very mature team that understands how hard it is to win games, especially when you hit [conference].
“When we went to Wisconsin, BYU, and even Syracuse and Oregon … we were focused. But the [games] where they think they’re going to win before it starts … they don’t understand how hard those games are. I don’t know how to get through. But, I have to do a better job of getting them focused.”
The 49ers are now set to go on the road, where their record is just 1-6, for two games against Pacific and UC Davis, respectively.
The ‘Niners will meet the Tigers on Thursday in Stockton at 7:05 p.m.
Good write up.