Half Is Enough for Purry, Long Beach : Scoreless for 20 Minutes, He Leads 49ers to 94-91 Overtime Win

For Cal State Long Beach to win, it seems that sophomore forward Andre Purry must have a good game.

Or at least half of one.

That’s what he had Monday night, and the 49ers defeated Utah State, 94-91, in overtime in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game before 7,201 fans at the Spectrum.

Purry, scoreless in the first half, finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds. He made two crucial baskets--a tip-in and a drive--as the 49ers took a 91-87 lead late in the overtime.

“When Purry plays well, we’re a good club,” Long Beach Coach Ron Palmer said.

But this was a team victory for Long Beach (6-8 overall, 1-1 in the PCAA), which rebounded from a poor performance Saturday night at San Jose State. In that game, the 49ers hit only 31% of their shots.

“We had a three-hour meeting after that game and said we’d start playing together,” said center DeAnthony Langston, who was the 49ers’ leading scorer with 17 points.

But the game didn’t start like a rebound effort--the 49ers hit only 28% in the first half and trailed the Aggies, 38-28.

Trailing, 49-41, the 49ers scored 14 straight points to take a 55-49 lead, but Utah State kept fighting back.

The 49ers led, 79-74, with 39 seconds left in regulation, but a three-point shot by Kevin Nixon and a four-footer by Jeff Anderson with six seconds left sent the game into overtime.

Sharing the heroics with Purry in the overtime were John Hoffman, who made a three-pointer, and Tony Ronzone, who made a driving layup and two free throws.

After Langston missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 15 seconds left, Utah State had a final chance to tie, but Nixon and Gilbert Peete missed shots, and Moore got the final rebound.

Nixon led the Aggies (8-6, 1-1) with 28 points, and Dan Conway had 23.

The 49ers, despite their poor first half, stuck to their plan of going inside for shots. That pleased Palmer, as did the fact that the shots finally went in. In the second half, Long Beach shot 62%.