Men's Basketball, Men's Sports, Sports

Bibbins returns, LBSU beats Fullerton

With point guard Justin Bibbins back in the starting lineup, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team beat Cal State Fullerton 70-57 Saturday inside the Walter Pyramid.

The 49ers (15-12, 9-3) led 42-39 with 12:52 remaining in the game, when Bibbins nailed his first three pointer of the game and ignited a 21-9 second-half run for the 49ers.

“First half, [Bibbins] was trying to feel his way back,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “But in the second half I thought he took control of that game.”

Bibbins agreed with his coach and said he was fighting off nerves in his first start since Jan. 30 against Hawai’i.

“First half I was jittery and excited to be back out there but in the second I calmed down,” Bibbins said. “I saw the floor better, lanes opened up and I was able to play my game again.”

Bibbins entered the game against Cal State Northridge on Feb. 6 just to shoot free throws after junior guard Bradford Jones went down with an ankle injury. But after missing three of the last four games, Bibbins was the sparkplug for LBSU’s second half run. The 5-foot-8-inch guard scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and dished out three assists.

Bibbins also pushed the tempo on a couple fastbreak plays after the 49ers forced several Titan turnovers. LBSU scored 20 points off of seven CSUF miscues.

With 7:56 remaining in the game, freshman guard Noah Blackwell’s jumper put the 49ers up by 13. LBSU broke the score open by going on a 7-2 run in the next two minutes and fifty-nine seconds to go up 68-48.

Although the Titans held the 49ers to only one made field goal for the remainder of the game, CSUF never got within single digits.

“I thought our guys won that game on the defensive end,” Monson said. “I knew our offense would get going if we kept defending.”

Although Bibbins returned, LBSU lost another player. Senior guard A.J. Spencer left the game with 1:37 left in the first half after crashing into Fullerton’s junior guard Tre’ Coggins.  

Spencer was favoring his right shoulder when he went back to the locker room and is considered day-to-day. However, Monson said he will find out the severity of the injury on Monday.

“It’s the shoulder; they’re going to MRI it on Monday,” Monson said. “[Spencer’s status] will be determined on that.”

For 18 minutes on Saturday, the 49ers finally had all of their troops back on the floor. That didn’t matter much though as LBSU went scoreless for five minutes in the early portion the half without a single field goal. Meanwhile, the Titans went on a 9-0 run to take a six-point lead.  

Overall, the 49ers shot 34.1 percent from the field and trailed by one at halftime.

“We just missed easy attempts and they just weren’t going down for us,” Bibbins said. “That happens sometimes but we just had to get stops. Second half they started falling again.”

Senior guard Nick Faust finished with a team-high 14 points, while redshirt senior guard Malcolm Brooks also scored 14 for CSUF.

The 49ers can overtake UC Irvine for second place in the Big West with a win against the Anteaters on Wednesday night at 7 p.m inside the Bren Events Center.

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