Long Beach State’s home conference winning streak had to come to an end eventually, and it did in Thursday night’s Big West Conference opener against UC Irivne.
Armed with a 7-foot-6 center and just enough shooters to score points, the Anteaters survived an up-and-down second half to defeat the 49ers, 46-44, Thursday at the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers (4-11, 0-1 Big West) have now lost three straight to the rival Anteaters, who eliminated The Beach from the Big West tournament last year and also won a late-season conference game in Irvine.
UC Irvine lost three starters from its 2012-13 team but returned and introduced enough talent to start the season as Big West favorites. The biggest introduction was 7-foot-6 freshman Mamadou Ndiaye, whose presence was felt on the defensive end throughout Thurday’s game.
Despite only scoring four points, the Senegal native
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy influence a game as much as he did and only score four points,” Monson said.
The 49ers had a new impact player of their own, though, as freshman Travis Hammonds, who enrolled at LBSU just two weeks ago, led the 49ers’ offensive effort with 12 points.
Hammonds was among a handful of bench players who started the game, as Monson sat his normal starters for the first few minutes because of a lackluster effort in the prior week’s practice. The bench fared well over that time, though, and with the starters’ help, the 49ers held a 24-23 lead at halftime.
The Anteaters opened up the second half with an 10-1 run, though, taking a 33-25 lead with 15:26 to go. LBSU battled back over the remainder of the game, and had a chance to tie it or send it into overtime in the last ten seconds.
After forcing a missed shot by UCI, the 49ers struggled to control the rebound immediately. By the time they got the ball in a reasonable position to take a shot, the final buzzer rang, signaling a 46-44 Anteater win.