Long Beach Falters

Georgetown hasn’t been an elite team for a long time, but it was still too much for Long Beach State in a 57-51 victory Wednesday in the Rainbow Classic.

Freshman forward Jeff Green had game highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds, leading the Hoyas in the tournament’s consolation bracket at Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center. Georgetown improved to 5-3.

“Our defense was OK, maybe even toward pretty good,” said first-year Georgetown Coach John Thompson III, whose father led the program to the 1984 national title and three Final Four appearances in a four-year span from 1981 to 1984.

“Regardless of their record, I think that’s a pretty good team. They have different guys that can score.”

Long Beach State (1-7) dropped its fifth in a row and also lost Louis Darby.

The junior guard injured his left foot at the 15:26 mark of the first half and did not return. X-rays revealed Darby suffered a broken bone in his foot, a 49er spokesman said. Darby is scheduled to undergo surgery today and expected to be sidelined four to six weeks.

The 49ers trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half and 10 with 2:41 left in the game. They pulled to within four at 44-40 on Jibril Hodges’ three-point shot with 5:29 left but failed to make another run.

Long Beach committed 23 turnovers and missed 10 of 17 free throws. Shawn Hawkins led the 49ers with 18 points and seven rebounds.

“We’re making one-handed passes, we’re throwing entry passes out of bounds,” 49er Coach Larry Reynolds said. “That’s just being lazy and not getting the job done.”

Long Beach plays Indiana State today in its final game of the tournament.