The Long Beach State men’s basketball team overcame an 11-point, second-half deficit to defeat Hawai’i 74-72 Saturday to finish the regular season 18-13 and 12-4 in the conference.
After knocking off Hawai’i for a second straight time, the 49ers finished the season winning nine of their last 10 games. With that type of momentum, LBSU head coach Dan Monson said he likes the team’s chances going into the tourney.
“This time of the year it’s [more] mental than it is physical,” Monson said. “I liked our energy and our togetherness. I don’t know if we are playing our best basketball but we are excited to go see what we can do next week.”
Senior guard Nick Faust, who finished with a team-high 19 points in his final home game, drove into the paint and finished with a soft touch shot off the glass to tie the game at 72 with 1:18 to go.
“He’s a handful,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said about Faust. “He’s an elite talent and he’s got an aggressive size and a good combination of that talent and aggressiveness. When he’s got it, he’s going to let it rip and put it out there and he hurt us.”
On the ensuing possession, Hawai’i junior guard Aaron Valdes’ shot clanked off the rim. LBSU’s Travis Hammonds and Rainbow Warriors’ Sai Tummala got tangled up going for the board. Tummala was called for the foul, sending Hammonds to the free throw line.
Hammonds was the 49ers’ second leading scorer with 13 points, but none of his shots were as big as the two late free throws.
In addition to capping off LBSU’s late second-half run, Hammonds also helped the 49ers (18-13, 12-4) outrebound Hawai’i 41 to 35.
“The boards have been a big part of our identity our strength, and in these two games against Long Beach we have been beat on the boards,” Ganot said.
Monson said he reminded his team about falling apart in a 90-67 blowout loss at Irvine on Feb. 24.
“This is where we were against Irvine. And we broke, and we were doing it again,” Monson said. “Nick wants to win so bad he just takes quick shots and gambles defensively. I said, ‘remember how that looked on tape, settle down and trust each other,’ and that’s what they did.”
With 5:48 remaining in the game, Valdes hit a three which put Hawai’i up 69-60. The Whittier native had a team-high 19 points and drained five shots from beyond the arc.
“We lost Valdes on man and zone [defense] and he broke the game open,” Monson said. “To our guys’ credit, they came back and found a way to stick together.”
The 49ers’ last run of the game was a 12-3 burst, which tied the game at 72 with 1:18 left.
On a night in which LBSU seniors A.J. Spencer and Faust were playing their last game inside the Walter Pyramid, Monson thought it was fitting to see them go out on a winning note.
Nevertheless, Monson is focused on getting better come next Thursday when the 49ers open the Big West Tournament.
“I told my guys I would trade this win in a second for a win on Thursday,” Monson said. “But it was a good way to finish, especially rebounding the ball; we’ve been struggling with that all year.”
After starting conference play 3-3, LBSU embarked on a six game winning streak eventually losing to UC Irvine. The 49ers recovered and won their last three games to close out the season and finish with an overall winning record for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
LBSU is the No. 3 seed in the tournament bracket and will play No. 6 UC Riverside on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. inside the Honda Center in Anaheim.
*The article was updated March 8 at 11:05 p.m. The initial version incorrectly stated the team’s record and the location of the Big West Tournament.
My lord, there are so many errors in this article. The team’s record is wrong in the very first sentence. The site of the Big West tourney is Honda Center, not Bren Devents Center. Was this in print? Embarrassing.