The Long Beach State men’s basketball team bounced back from a blowout defeat against UC Irvine with a strong defensive performance in a 66-55 win against UC Riverside on Saturday inside the Walter Pyramid.
With 6:12 to go, the Highlanders’ Gentrey Thomas’ layup sliced the 49ers’ (16-13, 10-4) lead to five. However, LBSU’s defense stymied the Highlanders, holding UCR without a field goal over the next five minutes and 11 seconds.
“I think today was a great testament to us being focused and coming out and holding someone under 60,” senior guard A.J. Spencer said. “We can score with any team in the nation, we just need to learn how to lock up on defense, and that’s what we need to do going into the Big West Tournament.”
The 49ers limited Riverside (14-16, 5-9) to eight points in the final five minutes of the game. Considering LBSU gave up 90 points at Irvine in a 90-67 loss on Wednesday, 49er head coach Dan Monson thought it was a step in the right direction.
“I thought our guys bounced back defensively, and being able to do that was encouraging,” Monson said. “I told our guys we did OK but if we want to win a conference championship there’s another level to go to.”
In order to take that next step, Monson said the 49ers need to bring the same defensive intensity every night.
“The biggest thing is putting it all together on a consistent basis,” Monson said. “We were fine offensively Wednesday but bad defensively. Today we were good defensively but not good enough [on the boards].”
After the Highlanders started the game on a 7-2 run, the 49ers went on a 17-3 run during the last 12 minutes of the first half to take a 31-25 lead.
Even though the win was highlighted by LBSU’s strong defense, Sophomore Justin Bibbins shined on offense. Bibbins had 10 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals.
On Saturday, the 49ers dished out 17 total assists with their starting point guard in the lineup. During the five games that Bibbins missed with a leg injury, the team averaged around 9.75 assists per game.
“Justin is the best point guard in the Big West because even when I’m on the bench I can see him controlling the floor,” Spencer said. “He’s been doing a good job, especially learning behind Mike Caffey last season and putting it to use [this season].”
Senior guard Nick Faust scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. For Riverside, junior forward Secean Johnson finished with a game-high 19 points.
The 49ers will play their last road game of the regular season when they play at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday at 4 p.m.