The Long Beach State men’s basketball team put on a shooting clinic Saturday evening, with a barrage of three pointers on their way to defeating New Mexico State, 67-53, for their second consecutive win.
Playing their third game in five days, LBSU (5-4) showed that fatigue was not a factor by shooting a season-high 56 percent from behind the arc inside the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers scorched the Aggies (5-3) offensively with 14 three pointers; guards Justin Bibbins and A.J. Spencer carried the load with four each. Senior Nick Faust nailed three of his own on his way to a team high 16 points on the night. Bibbins and Spencer both finished with 14 points each.
LBSU has made 44 combined three-pointers over the course of their last four games.
“My dad came to practice a few weeks ago. He’s 82 and a former Division 1 coach and the first thing he said to me was ‘you got a better shooting team than I thought you did,’” Monson said. “We got a lot of guys that can make shots, but you can’t win games consistently by shooting. You have to have other ways and that’s why I was excited about our defense today. It was our best defensive performance.”
Monson was referring to his squad completely shutting down New Mexico State forward Pascal Siakam, who came into the game ranked second in the nation in scoring, averaging 26.1 points per game.
Siakam was held in check with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting. The Aggies star was not the only one that suffered from the lockdown defense of LBSU. New Mexico State shot a dismal 33.3 percent from the field on 18-54 shooting.
“They just shot the heck out of the ball, and they did a great job,” New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies said. “We had too many missed opportunities and mental breakdowns to overcome for a young team.”
After jumping to an 11-10 lead in the first half, the Aggies would never lead again. The 49ers went on a major run to take control of the game. LBSU guards Spencer and Bibbins hit back-to-back three-pointers and freshman Mason Riggins added a dunk that during a 9-0 run.
Immediately following a New Mexico State lay-up, the 49ers connected on three consecutive three-pointers to stretch the lead to 28-13 with less than 10 minutes to go before halftime.
New Mexico State cut the deficit to 30-26 at the half, however LBSU outscored the Aggies 18-11 to open the second half and was never threatened the rest of the way—in large part to Faust, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the half.
“The biggest thing that has changed is his attitude. He’s gone from worrying about how he’s playing for himself to worrying about how this team is doing,” Monson said. “He has taken his captain role and catapulted it into his play, and when your game becomes selfless and you begin to worry about others, it takes a burden off you and it’s setting him free to do what he does. He’s playing so much more on instinct now and not on thought. He’s beginning to realize his leadership role is a big part of our success.”
LBSU will finish off their string of four games in six days with a matchup against UCLA on Sunday. The Bruins are coming off of an 87-77 victory over No.1 Kentucky this week. 49ers guard Spencer was excited for the opportunity to upset the Bruins.
“UCLA is the so-called ‘big brother’ of schools in California but I’m not from here so I don’t believe in that,” senior guard A.J. Spencer said. “They’re human just like us. We just got to go out there and play hard and if we do, we should take care of business.”
LBSU travels to Pauley Pavilion to face UCLA on Sunday at 6 p.m.