Back on the Road to National Recognition : 49ers Start PCAA Tournament vs. Team They’ve Beaten Twice

Last week there was a victory at Las Vegas, perhaps the biggest in the school’s basketball history. And although the regular season ended two days later with a loss, the 17-10 record was the best in eight years at California State University, Long Beach.

Now it is time for the so-called second season or March Madness: a whirl of ecstasy and heartbreak, slam-dunking, high-fiveing players, storming coaches, gushing announcers, screaming students with faces painted in school colors, net-cutting celebrations and crying cheerleaders.

It starts at 2 p.m. today for the 49ers, who play the Anteaters of UC Irvine in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament at the Forum in Inglewood.

No one is sure how much madness to expect at first: Long Beach fans do not have a reputation for attending afternoon games. But if CSULB advances to the semifinals Friday night, attendance should be swelled considerably by 49er followers.

Other Tournament Possibilities

By winning the tournament, the 49ers could get into the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Tournament for the first time since 1977. If they don’t win it, they would still likely get a bid to the National Invitational Tournament, which, despite the NIT’s second-class stature, they would gladly accept.

Interest in the team from fans, media and friends has amazed Coach Joe Harrington.

“Its incredible,” Harrington said earlier this week in his office. “That phone has rung and rung and rung. I can’t even plan a practice.”

The 49ers have defeated Irvine 100-80 and 98-90 this season, but had to come from 15 points behind to win the second time.

“I think Irvine feels they can beat us,” Harrington said.

Irvine, 14-13, has been designing special defenses to stop Morlon Wiley, the 49ers’ star who is averaging 20.4 points a game and scored 32 in the last game between the teams.

The 49ers, for the first time this season, may have an injury problem.

On Monday morning, forward Andre Purry, looking very unlike the athlete who scored 18 points in the 79-77 upset of fifth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas last Thursday night, walked bent over across a campus street.

“He slipped on a campus stairway Sunday,” Harrington said.

Purry injured his hip and wasn’t doing “too hot,” trainer Dan Bailey said Tuesday.

And Wiley sprained his ankle in Saturday’s 93-70 loss at Cal State Fullerton. He, though, is OK, Bailey said.

Of the games last week, Harrington said: “We went from high to low. Las Vegas was an indication how we can play. Then Fullerton was a tremendous letdown. It was not a typical performance, probably our poorest of the year.”

Harrington would seem a likely candidate for PCAA Coach of the Year for what he did with the same group of players that was 12-19 last season.

“It was a darned good year,” said Harrington, who did not foresee 17 victories when the season began.

Here is a look back at the season:

The Road to National Recognition

Despite their success, the 49ers have barely entered the on-ramp to the road to national recognition.

For example, Dick Vitale, a former coach who has gained a reputation as an outspoken commentator on network and cable TV, had never heard of Wiley until midway through the season. Then he wrote an article mentioning “Wylie” for a basketball publication.

The 49ers showed they could play--although not beat--Top 20 teams such as Arizona and Georgetown in December. At one point they were as high as 41st among 291 Division I teams in USA Today’s computer ratings. They finished the regular season 61st and, according to those ratings, played the 23rd toughest schedule in the country.

Still, the player who got the most attention was seldom-used reserve John Hoffman, who appeared in Sports Illustrated and on TV because of his ability to impersonate Elvis Presley.

The Biggest Victories

Long Beach 85, USC 66 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Dec. 9: The fact that USC was headed for a lousy season really did not matter. It was beating the name that really counted for Long Beach, which has long suffered in the shadow of USC and UCLA. “The kind of win you dream about,” said center John Hatten.

Long Beach 117, Loyola Marymount 113 at the 49er gym Dec. 13: Loyola was not in the Top 20 then but is now, having won 24 straight games since losing at Long Beach. The 49ers came from 23 points behind, and Wiley hit a 3-point shot to send the game into overtime. There was talk after the game that the 49ers might be the best team in California. Harrington was happy with the crowd of 1,727, large by Long Beach standards.

Long Beach 77, UC Santa Barbara 76 at Santa Barbara on Feb. 25: The 49ers looked like a Top 20 team, playing perfectly for much of the second half, and again showed that they are most poised before a hostile crowd. Purry made seven of eight free throws in the last 1:27 with 5,893 people screaming at him. Hatten picked up Harrington outside the dressing room as players and fans chanted, “Long Beach State!”

Long Beach 79, Nevada Las Vegas 77 at Las Vegas on March 3: Wiley made two free throws with one second left to stun the fifth-ranked Runnin’ Rebels and their 18,000 fans at the Thomas and Mack Center. The 49ers’ unrelenting press harassed Las Vegas into 24 turnovers, and their character was evident as they came from behind in the final minutes. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” center DeAnthony Langston shouted during the postgame celebration.

The Toughest Defeats

Nevada Las Vegas 71, Long Beach 68 at the Long Beach Arena on Jan. 4: The 49ers came close to beating the then-13th-ranked Rebels but Wiley, who scored 30 points, missed two free throws with 16 seconds left.

San Jose State 80, Long Beach 79 at San Jose on Jan. 9: This was a game Harrington never got over because the officials credited San Jose’s Ricky Berry with a basket he did not make late in the game.

Two Who Became Heroes

Wiley, a Long Beach native, and Harrington, a newcomer from the East, became the two leading figures in the 49er resurgence.

A fierce leader on the court, Wiley had a great season. He scored 30 or more points in a game four times and could always be depended on for a clutch basket. A 6-foot-4 senior guard, he also averaged 4 assists and 4 rebounds a game.

UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan called him a “magnificent, unbelievable player,” and Harrington called him a “great human being.”

Pro scouts began appearing at 49er games to watch Wiley, and now there is talk that Wiley might be selected in the first round of the National Basketball Assn. draft.

Few local people had heard of Harrington when he came from George Mason University to replace Ron Palmer last April. But the boosters, who had wanted Ed Ratleff as coach, now rave about Harrington.

Tall, popular and good looking, the 41-year-old Harrington instilled confidence in the 49ers and introduced them to a work ethic they had not known. They became a superbly conditioned team that often wore down opponents. A disciplinarian on the court, Harrington was relaxed away from it and enjoyed the company of his players.

He displayed a temper, though, which he mostly directed at officials. He had to be restrained by his players from going after referee Dave Libbey after Libbey ejected him from a game at Fresno.

But 10 minutes later, his boyish charm returned and Harrington acted as if the incident had not happened. He was reprimanded by the league but not suspended.

The greatest day of Harrington’s coaching life was last Thursday in Las Vegas. First, with his parents watching, he won a $3,211 slot-machine payoff in the Sahara Hotel during the afternoon. Then a few hours later he beat Jerry Tarkanian and the Runnin’ Rebels.

Today he begins trying for a bigger jackpot.