CS Long Beach Reloads, Guns Down Pacific, 76-61

Determined to erase the memory of a bad night in Fresno, John Hatten scored 21 points as Cal State Long Beach defeated Pacific, 76-61, in a Big West Conference game Monday night.

Hatten and guard Darrell Faulkner, the 49ers’ leading scorers, combined for only 6 points--all by Hatten--in a 56-55 loss at Fresno State Saturday night.

“It hurt us to lose . . . I took the blame for it,” Hatten said. “I had to bounce back. I was telling everyone that this would be my best game of the season.”

It was his second-best game. He scored 23 points in a victory over Cal State Fullerton.

Faulkner bounced back, too. He opened the game with two 3-pointers and a layup to give the 49ers an 8-0 lead, from which Pacific never recovered.

Hatten also started early, connecting with soft jumpers to force the Tigers out of a zone defense. Hitting 6 of 7 shots from the field, he scored 17 of his points in the first half, during which the 49ers shot 54%.

Long Beach (7-8 overall, 4-2 in the Big West) also got a big game from guard Tyrone Mitchell, who had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He staved off Pacific comebacks twice.

With the lead down to 8 points, Mitchell, under heavy guarding, passed to Rudy Harvey, who scored a layup at the halftime buzzer to put Long Beach up, 39-29.

Mitchell again rescued the 49ers after Pacific had come back from a 60-44 disadvantage to trail by only 61-56. This time he beat the 45-second clock with a 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key with 7:06 remaining.

“I turned and saw the clock with 3 or 4 seconds, squared up and shot it,” Mitchell said.

After that, the Tigers went more than 5 minutes without scoring.

The 49ers’ full-court defense pressured Pacific (5-8, 1-4) into 20 turnovers.

“The press hurt us and we didn’t shoot a good percentage (38%)--that combination didn’t make it a very good night for us,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said.

Center Don Lyttle scored 15 points for Pacific.

The victory was the 150th in the career of Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington.