Men's Basketball, Men's Sports, Sports

LBSU loses another guard, beats CSUN

The Long Beach State men’s basketball team lost its third player through injury in the past 10 days, but had just enough to defeat Cal State Northridge 81-76 on Saturday night inside the Walter Pyramid.

The 49ers (12-12, 6-3) trailed 55-50 with 8:51 remaining when junior Bradford Jones went up for a shot and was fouled by CSUN’s Jason Richardson. Jones landed hard and in the process reaggravated an ankle injury that he had hurt earlier this season. LBSU was already without its two point guards, Justin Bibbins and Noah Blackwell, and now the 49ers would be down a third guard.

“When Bradford went down, it really clicked to them that we have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves,” head coach Dan Monson said. “When you get into the meat of the conference, you have got to have that football next man up mentality, and our guys certainly did that.”

The referees called Richardson’s hard hit on Jones a flagrant foul. Since Jones was unable to take his foul shots, Bibbins came off the bench cold to shoot the free throws.The fans inside the Walter Pyramid cheered Bibbins as he checked into the game. Even though he hadn’t shot a basketball the entire week, Bibbins made both free throws and cut the 49ers’ deficit to three points.

Bibbins went back to the bench and wouldn’t return; Matadors head coach Reggie Theus said that was a momentum changer for LBSU. In the next two minutes and 41 seconds, the 49ers went on a 12-3 run driven by senior Nick Faust.

Faust scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. And if it hadn’t been for some of his shots going in, Theus said that the game might have been a different story.

“Faust made like four shots that weren’t great shots, but that’s what he does,” Theus said. “It’s not like they were good shots, they were bad shots. Shots that if he doesn’t make, the coach is not happy with him, but he’s a good player.”

With a quarter of the team out with injuries, Faust said he wanted to put the team on his back down the stretch.

“I just try to get my shots and get my feel my way through the game,” Faust said. “Whenever I feel like I can be the guy I’m going to attack every time.”

With the game waning down, the 49ers went up 76-71 with 32 seconds left after a pair of Travis Hammonds free throws.

Eight seconds later, CSUN’s Jerron Wilbut drained a three that cut LBSU’s lead to two. Wilbut then bailed the 49ers out by turning the ball over on CSUN’s next possession.

Faust made a pair of free throws, extending the 49ers lead to 80-76 with seven seconds remaining. Hammonds then closed out the game after grabbing his own board after a missed free throw and ran the clock out.

“We don’t have Bibbins, we don’t have Noah Blackwell and guys really stepped up,” Monson said. “It was a team win, Hammonds took a couple charges in the end. When guys are out, your leader has to perform and Faust was certainly a captain and a leader in the last 10 minutes.”

The 49ers will host Cal Poly next on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside the Walter Pyramid.

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