Big West Roundup : Long Beach Holds Off San Jose; Fresno Wins in 3 Overtimes

Tyrone Mitchell and Darrell Faulkner scored 15 points each as Cal State Long Beach held off a makeshift San Jose State team, 58-54, Saturday night in a Big West Conference game at San Jose.

Long Beach (9-11 overall, 6-5 in the Big West) almost blew a 15-point lead in the second half, but held on in the final seconds.

San Jose (5-15, 1-10) lost its ninth straight game, its longest losing streak since 1971, after getting to within 2 points with 43 seconds left.

Dwain Daniels scored 17 points and Craig McPherson had 16 for San Jose, which got back into the game with an 11-1 surge in the closing minutes.

The Spartans are playing with only two players who started the season. Ten scholarship players quit the squad in a dispute with Coach Bill Berry.

San Jose State has filled out its roster with walk-ons from the student body, including All-Big West tailback Johnny Johnson.

Fresno State 76, Pacific 71--Jervis Cole scored 29 points and pulled down 7 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a triple-overtime victory over the Tigers at Stockton.

Don Lyttle had 29 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocked shots for Pacific (5-14, 1-9).

Wilbert Hooker of Fresno (11-8, 6-4) sent the game into overtime with a 19-footer at the buzzer that tied the score, 54-54. It went to a second overtime tied, 66-66, when officials ruled Chris Fox of Pacific failed to beat the buzzer on a layup.

Rene Ebeltjes scored 4 points as the Bulldogs pulled away in the third overtime.

Utah State 92, New Mexico State 71--Danny Conway scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and had 10 rebounds as Utah State downed New Mexico State at Logan, Utah.

Reid Newey added 14 points for Utah State (9-12, 7-5), and Jimmy Taylor had 15 points for New Mexico State (14-7, 7-4).

New Mexico State trailed, 43-23, at the half and never got within 20 points. Utah State’s lead was 27 points with 11:19 left when Newey scored 5 points and Greg Houskeeper added 4 during a 9-2 surge.