The last two games for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team have been a tale of two halves: competitive in the first and inconsistent in the second. Against Pacific Monday, the 49ers (3-9) came out with energy and controlled the tempo in the first half, but eventually fell short in a 74-68 loss after collapsing in the second.
Redshirt senior Temidayo Yussuf led the team in scoring with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The 49ers also got strong outings from redshirt senior Bryan Alberts and junior Jordan Griffin, who scored 13 points and 10 points respectively.
“It’s kind of been a symptom of our team so far this year, we haven’t been able to put 40 minutes together yet,” assistant coach Bobby Braswell said via 22 West Radio. “[Pacific] became aggressive and started attacking us off the bounce and beat us back in transition.”
In the first half, Long Beach looked like a team ready to respond from a 21-point loss to Fresno State Saturday. The 49ers got a much needed spark from Griffin and Alberts, the team’s best three-point shooters. As a team, Long Beach shot 61 percent on field goals and 60 percent on three-pointers in the first half, giving itself a 38-30 lead at halftime.
To begin the second half, the 49ers used a 8-2 run to push their lead out to 46-32 with 16 minutes left to play. From that point on, Pacific had all of the momentum and ran away with the win. The Tigers sparked a 13-0 run of its own and tied the game at 59 with six minutes to play. Down the stretch, Long Beach was unable to lock down defensively and the team’s turnover problems continued with a total of 18.
Compared to the 49ers’ hot shooting in the first half, they shot 28 percent in the second. Pacific was led by sophomore guard Lafayette Dorsey, who scored a career-high 31 points.
“When things get rough we’ve got to learn how to fight,” Braswell said via 22 West Radio. “We can’t quit and we can’t take a bunch of bad shots. I don’t think we quit tonight, I thought our guys fought, but we just got ourselves in a bad rut and we took some bad shots.”
Next up for Long Beach is a 7 p.m. home game against Pepperdine Dec. 20.