The Long Beach State men’s basketball team renewed its “Black and Blue” rivalry with a 58-54 loss to UC Irvine on Thursday night in a chippy game that included more fouls than baskets.
LBSU (8-10) shot 24 percent from the floor on 14 of 57 shooting but led most of the game behind senior guard Nick Faust’s 19 points. Faust was the team’s only player that scored in double digits.
The 49ers entered the contest with the defending Big West champion UC Irvine (14-5) as an undersized squad. Their main focus was on containing 7-foot-6 center Mmadou Ndiaye, who finished with 13 points and only 3 rebounds. Despite the 49ers tallest man being at 6-foot-7, and using mostly guards on the night, they outrebounded the Anteaters 49-42 and limited Ndiaye to only three shots, which were all dunks.
“I thought it was encouraging with how hard we fought and how we rebounded against a team of that size with the foul trouble we had and having to go with four guards a lot,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “To hold them to 58 points and out-rebound them was a good effort but at the end of the day this is Division 1 basketball and at Long Beach State we expect to win at home and we didn’t’ get it done today.”
LBSU had possession of the ball, trailing 56-54, with 15 seconds remaining when freshman guard Noah Blackwell drove the baseline but stepped out of bounds. The Anteaters Luke Nelson clinched the victory with a pair of free throws at the other end.
“We didn’t pay attention to the details, which cost us the game,” Faust said. “I think we will be fine, I just got to make a few more shots. We just have to use this as motivation. I had a lot of clean looks tonight that I thought I should have made but that’s a part of the game.”
Monson’s squad had four three-pointers in the first half, giving the 49ers some early confidence that sparked a 10-0 run that included threes from Faust and Blackwell and a basket by forward Travis Hammonds. It would give LBSU a 29-21 lead heading into the locker room.
The second half was a different story.
After starting four of 12 from three-point range, the 49ers only hit two of their next 14 from behind the arc due to UC Irvine’s extended 2-3 zone. The Anteaters took advantage with a 14-3 run to start the half. UCI guards Jaron Martin and Luke Nelson gave LBSU fits on the offensive end by both scoring 11 points on the night and helping UC Irvine hold the lead for the final 2:30 of the game.
“We haven’t lost the season here. We lost a game. The league favorite came in here and we led most of the game,” Monson said. “We did a lot of good things and we got to build on it and hopefully we will get better and play them in March. We beat them last year and they went to the NCAA Tournament. There’s a long ways to go.”
LBSU will travel to San Luis Obispo next to play Cal Poly on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside the Mott Athletics Center.