After dropping its first Big West Conference game last Saturday at home to UC Riverside, the first-place Long Beach State men’s basketball team will take the Walter Pyramid court again tonight for a tussle with the Titans of Cal State Fullerton.
The game will feature the two leading scorers in the Big West with Josh Akognon (23.0 PPG) of Fullerton and Donovan Morris (16.4 PPG) of The Beach (10-8, 5-1 Big West).
CSUF (9-10, 3-4 Big West) leads the conference in scoring at 75.9 PPG but also surrenders the most (76.3).
The Titans are coming off a big win Jan. 21 at Cal State Northridge, 91-87, after CSUN buried them at home in the conference opener, 90-64. It was a coming out party for freshman point guard Jacques Streeter, who netted a career-high 27 points and seven assists.
But the focus for the ‘Niners will have to be on Akognon. CSUF is only 1-10 when he scores 24 points or less but 8-0 if he hits the 25-point mark.
LBSU will play at Fullerton on February 18.
Former 49er coach Tex Winter will be honored throughout the game. Winter is best known for the Triangle Offense, which is a staple of Phil Jackson’s teams. As an assistant with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers under Jackson, Winter was part of nine NBA championship teams.
He began his career at Marquette and took Kansas State to two Final Fours. The USC-grad also coached the NBA’s Houston Rockets for their first two seasons after they left San Diego.
At The Beach, Winter was 78-69 in five seasons beginning in 1978.
LBSU takes a short trip down the 405 to play UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center Saturday night.
The Anteaters (6-13, 3-3 Big West) are led by freshman Eric Wise, who leads the team in scoring at 13.4 PPG. Kevin Bland is fourth in the Big West in rebounding, pulling down 6.8 per game while Michael Hunter is third in 3-pointers made with 40.
While Irvine is just 2-7 on the road, they are a more respectable 3-5 at home including a 2-1 mark in conference play.
The game is the first of two in the Black and Blue Rivalry in 2009. UCI comes to the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 26.
Irvine plays at UC Riverside tonight.