CS Long Beach Beats Bradley, 94-84

A good first half was all Cal State Long Beach needed Wednesday night to become the first team in 35 years to spoil Bradley University’s home basketball opener.

Twelve players scored for the 49ers in the first 20 minutes as they built a 56-34 lead en route to a 94-84 victory before 6,665 fans at the Peoria Civic Center. Bradley took advantage of a considerable 49er letdown in the second half, but could get no closer than 90-82 with 55 seconds to play.

“We just didn’t play the same in the second half,” Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington said.

Long Beach (3-0) is off to its best start in 11 seasons. It is the worst start for Bradley (1-5) in 55 years.

“We lost to a very good basketball team,” Bradley Coach Stan Albeck said. “They have the makings of a great team. They played with poise and covered a lot of ground. You have to go north and south against them. You can’t go east and west because they’ll stick an arm or a leg in the passing lane and the result will be a layup at the other end.”

By halftime, Bradley had turned the ball over 17 times. In all, the Braves made 30 turnovers, which was a Civic Center record, as were the 24 steals by the 49ers.

“Our inexperience showed,” Albeck said. “When you have two freshman guards and they turn the ball over 13 times between them in the first half, there’s no way we can possibly win the game.”

Troy Joseph, a junior forward whom Harrington discovered at a playground tournament last year, had seven steals and was one of four double-figure scorers for the 49ers, who shot 54.5% from the field. Tyrone Mitchell led with 16 points; Rudy Harvey, who made seven of eight shots, had 15, and Joseph and Mike Masucci each scored 14.

Center Luke Jackson scored a career-high 29 points for Bradley and had a game-high 13 rebounds.