49er Men's Basketball Falls to Titans, 77-74, Perfect No More in Conference

FULLERTON – There will be no perfect conference season for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team as the 49ers fall to archrivals Cal State Fullerton - also riding a winning streak of its own, 77-74 Saturday afternoon in Titan Gym.

DJ Seeley’s 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining in the game put the Titans on top 69-67 for good, as he would hit four of the last eight free throws in the waning seconds to seal the victory.

The loss snapped Long Beach’s 15-game winning streak in conference this year, and 23 games overall since last year.  It also extended Fullerton’s home conference winning streak to eight games.

The game was close throughout, until Fullerton’s Isiah Umipig was fouled while shooting a three-pointer.  He would convert all three free throws, which would ignite an 8-4 run to give the Titan’s some breathing room, as they would take the 35-32 lead going into halftime

Umipig was asked to defend Ware this game, which he did to a tune of 2 of 15, allowing only 10 points from the otherwise hig- scoring point guard.

“I take pride in my defense,” Umipig said. “Casper (Ware) is a very good player, and when they asked me to cover him, I accepted the challenge to guard him.”

Seeley finished with 27 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal.  Umipig added 16 points and three rebounds, while Kwame Vaughn pitched in 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.  Omondi Amoke scored only five points, but did grab 13 rebounds to contribute defensively.

Despite a slow-scoring night, Ware did dish out seven assists and a steal.  Mike Caffey led the way for the Beach, dropping 20 points, while TJ Robinson nearly recorded a double double, tallying 13 points and nine rebounds.  James Ennis added 11 points for the Beach.

“Just as in the Kansas State game, we weren’t able to get in any kind of rhythm,” 49er head coach Dan Monson said.  “Give them credit.  They disrupted Casper and didn’t allow him to get into a flow.”

Long Beach, however, wouldn’t roll over as they would slowly claw back into the game, sparked by Ennis’s back-to-back buckets to close the gap to 37-38 to open the second half.  They would eventually regain the lead at 50-49 with 12:50 remaining in the game.  Long Beach would then break the game open, going on a 13-6 run to take a 65-58 lead.

Monson attributed the loss to lack of focus and trust with each other.

“We get into trouble when we don’t trust each other and try to do too much,” he said.  “We didn’t play as well as we could on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.”

Long Beach (22-8, 15-1 Big West Conference) now shifts its attention to Thursday’s first round game against UC Davis in the Big West Tournament to be held at the Honda Center.  Tip-off time is 6 p.m.

BOX SCORES

CAL STATE FULLERTON (77)- DJ Seeley (27), Isiah Umipig (16), Kwame Vaughn(10), Orane Chin (9), Sedric  Martin (8), Omondi Amoke (5), Perry Webster (2)

LONG BEACH STATE (74)- Mike Caffey (20),  TJ Robinson (13), James Ennis (11) Casper Ware (10), Eugene Phelps (8), Larry Anderson (8), Edis Dervisevic (4)