ANAHEIM — You didn’t need to look at a calendar to know it was Friday the 13th, just look at the Long Beach State officials at the Anaheim Convention Center.
A 65-60 loss to Pacific in the Big West Conference semifinals capped one of the most disappointing days in LBSU sports history, which included the Beach Legacy Referendum being shot down by nearly 60 percent of the students.
Some of the bizarre plays in the men’s basketball game only added to the wound.
On a steal with 7:18 remaining in the contest, freshman point guard Casper Ware lost the ball on his way to a fast-break layup. The very next possession, Brian LeDuc knocked down a mid-range jumper to put Pacific ahead, 43-38, and snap a drought of 7:20 without a field goal by either team.
“I saw 65-60 out there, I didn’t see ages,” 49er head coach Dan Monson said about his young team.
The last made basket was a Terrell Smith put-back on an offensive rebound, which came off a missed Tigers 3-point attempt with the shot clock running down.
The first half was far from the prettiest form of basketball for LBSU and it started with the woeful shooting from beyond the arc.
The ‘Niners trailed the Tigers, 29-26, at the half and made just 1-of-9 3-pointers — something that has often been one of the differences between a win or a loss along with free-throw shooting. If anything, they were lucky to be down just three points at the break.
But one thing about Dan Monson’s team this entire season: They don’t quit playing.
Both teams gave the national ESPNU television audience a frenetic finish.
Trailing 59-52 with 1:15 left to play, LBSU defended the inbounds passes to near perfection and turned three Pacific turnovers into six points in just a minute.
Much like the aggressive BLR campaign, however, the 49ers’ effort came up just short.
“Desperation is a powerful thing. The team was desperate to win,” Monson said. “They reached back and found more and we had them frazzled. We just didn’t have enough.”
The second-year coach didn’t want to take solace in his team’s second-place Big West finish in the regular season, despite the absence of senior leader Donovan Morris for six games due to injury.
“My job is just to do the best job I can with what we have, and I don’t know that I did that,” Monson said. “You want me to say I’m happy to be .500? I’m not a .500 coach — 15-15 is not where I want us to be, whether it’s the first year, the last year or the second year I’m here.”
Monson still recognized the job his seniors did, helping resurrect a program that finished just 6-25 one year ago and now has a bright future.
Along with Ware, freshmen Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson and Eugene Phelps played significant roles all season.
Anderson was named Freshman of the Year and surprisingly was selected First Team All-Big West, along with his All-Freshman team nod. Robinson and Ware joined him on the All-Freshman team, while Phelps gave the team a big body it desperately needed.
“It’s going to be scary how good they get the next two or three years,” Pacific head coach Bob Thomason said.
Soon they’ll be the ones haunting teams and opposing coaches on Friday the 13th.
Yeah but you won’t have Monson’s monsoon and you’ll be playing in Div II. You’ll only get to play the almighty Titans in preseason warm-up scrimmages. Must suck to be you.
Who said anything about spinning it?
It was just a bad day that came on an unlucky day. He said they shot horrible from 3 and missed on other chances. He said they came up short.
Just wait til next year when you guys don’t have Akognon and start struggling. It’s not like the Titans were invincible with him anyway. Kind of like that UC Irvine game where they couldn’t get a shot off and he ran into his own guy.
Or the Long Beach game in Fullerton 😉
The softball is the only side to actually do something right, so it’s not as bad as it could have been…
The “dark day in 49er athletic history” was when they got too greedy during a recession, not because their campus doesn’t love them, wah frickin’ wah. They were outplayed on the court, where all is determined, plain and simple. Use whatever EXCUSES you want, but UOP played and the Noners didn’t. Must still suck to be you.
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Got nothing better to do than to troll another school’s comments section?
The “dark day in 49er athletic history” was when they got too greedy during a recession, not because their campus doesn’t love them, wah frickin’ wah. They were outplayed on the court, where all is determined, plain and simple. Use whatever EXCUSES you want, but UOP played and the Noners didn’t. Must still suck to be you.
Yeah, passing a future student fee was what was needed to help these losers. The 49ers flopped and Pacific kicked their butts, so quit trying to spin it as being because the BLR failed. They went nearly ten minutes without a field goal in the second The 15-15 record had nothing to do with a new women’s soccer stadium. Quit trying to build Gonzaga’s former lucky man as your salvation. Gonzaga was a fluke that hit national prominence by not playing on Friday 13th and a whole lot of Catholic prayers. They will be yesterday’s news in a couple of years, just like Monson. The 49ers deserve to be playing in the Little West, ha ha. Must suck to be you.
So ends a dark day in 49er athletic history. Come Monday morning, look for Monson to resign, the freshmen to transfer, Cegles to announce the school’s drop to Division III, and the thousands of sports-haters on this campus will be popping champaign bottles in jubilation. BOOK IT!