SEATTLE – The closer the Long Beach State men’s basketball team gets to a win, the harder it is to lose.
The 49ers lost their seventh straight game Saturday, falling to Washington 92-89 in a two-overtime thriller that saw LBSU have multiple chances to get their first win since Nov. 9.
Even though they led by six with less than five minutes to go, fouls and missed free throws down the stretch kept ‘Niners (1-7) from upsetting the Huskies (5-3) at Alaska Airlines Arena.
“There were a couple times where the game is over if we just execute,” head coach Dan Monson said. “From free throws to rebounding, we didn’t do that, and that’s unacceptable.”
LBSU didn’t jump out to a big lead. The 49ers were down 15-10 early on before a 9-0 run put them on top.
Their lead held steady until the end of the half, when fouls by the 49ers helped Washington get to the free throw line. After making 11 of 12 free throws in the first half, the Huskies led 38-37 going into the locker room.
LBSU was able to get back on track in the second half and pulled away to lead by as much as eight. Fouls came back to bite LBSU once again, though, as Washington used three straight and-ones to climb back into it.
The Huskies went ahead 77-76 on a pair of free throws with 58 seconds remaining in regulation, but Mike Caffey hit a layup and Washington converted another free throw before the clock expired to send it to overtime.
Caffey came up big for the 49ers again in the first overtime. He scored five of LBSU’s seven points in the five-minute overtime, including a layup with four seconds remaining to force a second overtime.
Tired and cramped, though, Caffey’s point total would stay at the 28 he had at the end of the first overtime. Caffey missed all five of the shots he took in the second overtime, and clutch baskets by the Huskies sealed the win for Washington.
“We’re getting better; we’re just not making enough plays to win right now,” Monson said. “We had that game with two to three minutes left … and we didn’t do the things we needed to to win it.”
The dejected looks on the faces of the 49ers suggested that they weren’t satisfied with silver linings, but Saturday’s game had plenty of them. Caffey’s 28 points were a career high, and three other 49ers joined him in double digits. Dan Jennings had 22 points but also made two key free throws late in the game after missing his first four.
On the Washington side of the ball, senior guard C.J. Wilcox set a school record for 3-pointers with the 232nd of his Huskies career. Wilcox was held to 15 points, though, after averaging more than 27 per contest over his last three games.
The 49ers will come home for their first home game in weeks, but they won’t get a break. Twentieth-ranked Creighton will roll into Long Beach for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday night.