Men's Basketball, Men's Sports, Sports

Faust helps LBSU top UC Riverside, advance to Big West Tournament semifinals

Led by senior Nick Faust’s double-double, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team rode a late second-half run to come away with a 82-74 win against UC Riverside in the quarterfinal round of the Big West Tournament on Thursday night inside the Honda Center.

Faust scored a team-high 21 points and also grabbed 10 boards to go along with his 46.7 field goal percentage.

“A lot of times you lose games this time of year because [players] are afraid to make mistakes,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “But [Faust] is not afraid; he is aggressive,”

With the win, the 49ers advanced to the semifinals round where they will go up against UC Irvine for a third time this season.

However, LBSU will need to play better defense than it did against UC Riverside (14-19, 5-11), particularly on the three-point line. Against the Highlanders, the 49ers gave up 11 triples, five of whichto Riverside’s senior guard Jaylen Bland.

Even though LBSU allowed Bland to score a game-high 22 points, UC Riverside head coach Dennis Cutts said his senior guard had to earn every point.

“They did a great job on him; they denied him and made him work [for every shot],” Cutts said. “He was one of the first guys we signed when I got the job [in April 2014]; I thought we competed throughout the game.”

With 2:30 remaining in the game, LBSU was clinging on to the lead with a 69-67 advantage after Riverside’s senior Steven Jones drilled a three point shot. But on the ensuing inbound pass, sophomore point guard Justin Bibbins went coast to coast and hit a running layup off the glass to put LBSU up by four with 2:19 left to play.

Bibbins said he was focused, getting the best shot off for the team and making up for leaving Jones open on the previous play.

“He was mad at the coaches because he came off the guy in the corner and didn’t want to and gave up a three,” Monson said. “It was our fault and we tried to make some adjustments and it didn’t work.”

On the following Riverside possession, Bland’s three-point attempt to slice the Highlanders’ deficit to one came up short.

“The nine years I’ve been here, every time we play them it’s tough,” Monson said. “They do a very good job of disrupting you. And they had our guys frustrated as they always do.”

A block by junior forward Travis Hammonds and another failed Highlander three-point attempt allowed LBSU a chance to extend its cushion.

With 1:02 remaining, sophomore forward Gabe Levin cleaned up a missed shot by Bibbins with a two hand dunk, which spread the 49ers’ advantage to six.

A 9-4 run in the next 49 seconds put LBSU up 82-71 with just 13 seconds to go.

“[LBSU] is a great basketball team,” Cutts said. “I told my team, ‘You have to play a 9 or 10.’ I thought we played well, but they were outstanding.”

In the first half and down the stretch, UCR kept the 49ers on their heels. However, LBSU found another way again to walk away at the end with a win.

“At the end of games it is important to be organized,” Monson said. “After losing a couple in the beginning of the year, we got organized at the end of games. But the biggest thing we teach is to trust each other.”

Next up for the 49ers (19-13, 12-4) is UCI, a team they have yet to defeat this season. Even though LBSU is 0-2 against the Anteaters, including a 90-67 blowout loss in the previous meeting, Faust said it is a clean slate now that it’s tournament time.

“It’s a new game,” Faust said. “We can’t look back on giving up 90, I think we just got to go back to the drawing board.”

Tip-off between the 49ers and Anteaters is set for 9 p.m. on Friday inside the Honda Center.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram