Balanced Attack Gives CS Long Beach Victory

It was hard to tell the Cal State Long Beach first team from the substitutes Saturday night when the 49ers rolled to a 105-61 victory over Stephen F. Austin in their basketball opener Saturday night in the university gym.

The Long Beach starters scored 54 points and the reserves scored 51, an indication that Coach Joe Harrington finally may have the depth he has long sought.

“Everyone who came in was really aggressive,” Harrington said. “They know they have to be because if they aren’t they won’t play. We have a lot of combinations we can put on the floor.”

The aggressiveness was most apparent in a full-court pressure defense, off which the 49ers had 18 steals. The outmanned Lumberjacks from Nacogdoches, Tex., committed 35 turnovers.

Five Long Beach players, all new to the team, scored in double figures, led by center Kevin Cutler, who had 16 points. Lucious Harris scored 15 points and a third starter, Troy Joseph, had 12. Mike Masucci, a 6-11 sophomore who formerly played at the University of Kansas, came off the bench to score 14, and reserve forward Kevin Williams added 10.

Harris, a freshman guard from Cleveland High School in Reseda, hit a three-point shot to open the game and send the 49ers off to a 16-2 lead. The Lumberjacks got to within 25-18 but were down, 53-35, at halftime.

Harris also opened the second half with a three-pointer, then quickly added two dunks. That set the tone for the rest of the game as the 49ers continually ran past Austin players for dunks and layups.

“I thought Lucious Harris was especially good for the first game of his career,” Harrington said. “His head was in the game. He was never nervous or apprehensive. He’s not a typical first-year player.”

The 49ers shot 56% from the field to 49% for Stephen F. Austin. Twelve players scored for Long Beach, and guard Bobby Sears had nine assists.