Long Beach at Its Best Is Still No Match for Fresno, 66-52

The losses and growing pains continue to mount for the Cal State Long Beach 49ers, who were brushed aside, 66-52, by Fresno State Saturday night despite playing one of their better games of the season.

Long Beach, the last-place team in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., stayed close to Fresno, which is battling for first place, for about 26 minutes at the Long Beach Arena.

With guard Cardell Taylor scoring three baskets in a row, Long Beach cut the lead to 40-39.

But the 49ers’ youthful aggressiveness worked against them, and with less than six minutes gone in the second half, Fresno was in the bonus situation at the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs, bulling their way inside at every opportunity, attempted 17 free throws the rest of the game, and although they made only nine, that was eight more than Long Beach made in the second half.

The most powerful of the Bulldogs was 6-8 forward Scott Barnes, who had 11 rebounds and 17 points.

Fresno’s top scorer was Jos Kuipers, a 6-8 forward from the Netherlands who scored 20 points, 13 in the first half.

The victory kept Fresno (17-6 overall and 12-2 in the PCAA) a half-game behind Nevada Las Vegas while Long Beach dropped to 3-20 and 1-13.

--DICK WAGNER

Utah State 67, Santa Barbara 55--Greg Grant’s 12 points led a balanced scoring attack and the Aggies committed only two second-half turnovers in a victory over the Gauchos at Logan, Utah. Utah State is 15-8 overall, 8-6 in PCAA play. Santa Barbara is 11-12, 7-7.