Long Beach No Match for Texas

Texas, which had been averaging 97 points a game, scored at will from inside and outside Wednesday night and defeated Cal State Long Beach, 117-86, before 1,272 fans at the Long Beach Arena.

The Longhorns (7-1) won their sixth straight game and scored more than 100 points for the 4th time this season.

Never threatened, they moved to a 48-28 halftime lead, propelled by 22 points by forward Alvin Heggs and helped by 18 Long Beach turnovers.

“In the first half we were sickening,” 49er Coach Joe Harrington said. “I don’t want the people in this town to think that is the way we play. We didn’t do the fundamental things and missed a lot of easy shots. In the second half, we hustled.”

Yet, in the second half, the 49ers (2-5) gave up 69 points.

“Texas is probably the best team we’ve played,” Harrington said. “They’ve got good big guys, excellent guards; they’re very athletic, and they’re having fun.”

Heggs, who made 14 of 17 field-goal attempts, led the Longhorns with 31 points. Guard Travis Mays scored 26, and forward Lance Blanks had 20.

Freshman guard Brian Jones scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half to lead the 49ers. Darrell Faulkner had 15 points, Rudy Harvey 14, Marco Fleming 13 and John Hatten 10.

Two baskets by Fleming cut the Longhorn lead to 67-51 with 12:10 left in the game, but Joey Wright and Blanks came back with successive 3-point shots to keep Texas firmly in control.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good team, and tonight we came to play,” Texas Coach Tom Penders said.

The last 10 minutes of the game were spiced with 5 technical fouls, including 2 on Harrington.

Long Beach was outscored, 28-12, at the free-throw line.