It’s not often that a team scores 30 unanswered points to start a half, but that’s exactly what happened Saturday evening at the Walter Pyramid.
The Long Beach State men’s basketball team defeated UC Davis, 99-74, thanks in large part to what happened over the first eight minutes of the second half. The 49ers came out of the halftime break down 44-40 and went on a 30-0 run to put away a game that will undoubtedly find itself in LBSU trivia questions in the future.
“These guys did some things today that I’ve never had a team do that were unbelievable,” head coach Dan Monson said. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I’ve never had a team go on a 30-0 run. To sustain that is really hard to do.”
The 49ers (5-11, 1-1 Big West Conference) started out slowly, as the three-headed monster of Mike Caffey, Dan Jennings and Tyler Lamb failed to produce much offensively. Fortunately for The Beach, David Samuels and Travis Hammonds were there to combine for 26 first-half points and keep LBSU competitive.
In the second half, the 49ers’ core players resurfaced and sparked a run that was the best in recent memory.
Caffey exploded for nine points in the first three minutes of the half, and Lamb got in on the scoring as well, putting up 16 second-half points after being held scoreless in the first.
“I didn’t see this coming at halftime, but boy did we need it,” Monson said. “It was nice to see them feel good about themselves.”
UC Davis missed shots and turned the ball over repeatedly until the 11:54 mark, when Corey Hawkins hit a pair of free throws to end the scoreless streak. By then it was far too late for the Aggies, though, as the 49ers’ lead was never in doubt even as bench players took the floor for the remainder of the half.
LBSU had a chance to score in triple digits for the first time this year, but a few missed shots and a decision to run out the clock on the last possession left the 49ers one point shy.
Standing out on the filled-up stat sheet for the 49ers were Samuels, who earned a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Hammonds, who led the team with 20 points.
Hammonds, a freshman who enrolled at Long Beach State just two weeks ago, is off to a memorable start despite a lack of practice time.
“I first got here, they brought me in like I had already been here,” Hammonds said of his teammates. “It’s been fun lately.”