Long Beach Can’t Find Hoop, Bows to San Jose

Cal State Long Beach couldn’t shoot Saturday night and went down meekly, 73-56, to San Jose State at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.

The game was the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. opener for both teams.

The 49ers failed to hit from a foot from the basket, from 20 feet away and from most spots in between. Their final field-goal percentage was 31%.

Long Beach never led but came back from a 22-point deficit late in the second half to cut the Spartans’ lead to 52-45 with 6:50 to play.

Poor foul shooting by San Jose had given the 49ers a chance to get back in the game.

Long Beach had an opportunity to pull within five, but Tony Ronzone’s running left-hander rolled off the rim. After that, San Jose was not in further jeopardy.

“Not only did we start bad, we didn’t finish strong either,” said Long Beach Coach Ron Palmer, who was upset that his team’s shot selection was as bad as the actual shooting.

Guards Morlon Wiley and Ronzone, usually two of the more dependable 49er shooters, combined to make only 3 of 20 shots.

San Jose State (5-5) found the basket 52% of the time and was led by Ricky Berry, who scored 23 points, and George Puou, who had 15.

The 49ers, who had been averaging 74 points a game, scored only 22 in the first half.

John Hoffman’s 12 points led the 49ers, who dropped to 5-8.