CS Long Beach Downs Utah State, 74-69

It’s too soon to tell whether this season’s Cal State Long Beach team will develop into one as good as last season’s, but the 49ers accomplished something Tuesday night that they were unable to do last year: They beat Utah State.

“They were the only team to beat us in our gym last year, that was enough (motivation) for me,” center John Hatten said after scoring 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half of the 49ers’ 74-69 victory before 1,088 in the university gym.

The victory was the third straight for the 49ers (6-7 overall, 3-1 in the Big West Conference) and their fourth in the last 5 games.

Last year, the Aggies swept 2 games from the 49ers, who had their best season (17-12) this decade.

As has been the case most of this season, there were many contributors for Long Beach.

Jeff Eastin had 14 points, including 4 straight free throws down the stretch; Tyrone Mitchell had 13 points; Darrell Faulkner had 13 points and 5 steals; Rolf Jacobs had 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and reserves Rudy Harvey and Marco Fleming combined for 14 points.

The game was close throughout. Baskets by Eastin and Harvey at the end of the first half gave the 49ers a 41-37 lead, despite 60% shooting by the Aggies in the first 20 minutes.

Utah State’s only second-half lead was 45-43, which the 49ers quickly erased by scoring 8 straight points, a run Hatten started with 2 inside shots.

But led by veterans Reid Newey and Dan Conway, Utah State (4-9, 2-2) would not let the 49ers put the game away. Trailing, 60-59, the Aggies had a chance to take the lead, but Faulkner stole the ball from Newey and hit Mitchell for a fast-break layup.

With 43 seconds left, Newey, who led the Aggies with 19 points, hit one of his 4 3-pointers to cut the lead to 68-67 and force the 49ers to win the game with free throws.

Inconsistent in recent games at the foul line, the 49ers were on target this time. After Eastin made both ends of a 1-and-1, Faulkner made 2 with 16 seconds left after rebounding a 3-point attempt by Nathan Grant. Eastin then added 2 more.