CS Long Beach Takes It Out on Arizona State : NIT:49ers, passed over by NCAA tournament, score 86-71 victory over Sun Devils in first round.

Cal State Long Beach, left out of the NCAA tournament, vented its frustration on Arizona State in the National Invitation Tournament here Friday night.

“That was just too good a basketball team for us,” Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder said after Long Beach’s 86-71 victory over the Sun Devils before 6,287 at the University Activity Center.

The 49ers (23-8) will play the University of Hawaii in the second round Tuesday night at Honolulu.

Guard Tyrone Mitchell, who formerly played at Arizona State, led the 49ers with 17 points and 10 assists.

“I felt I didn’t get a fair shot when I was here,” said Mitchell, who transferred after 2 1/2 seasons because of lack of playing time. “I kind of wanted to show them I can play. I had a good time, I felt right at home.”

The 49ers, using their superior quickness, dominated the game from the start and shot 58% from the field in the first half. They took a 17-6 lead and with Mitchell scoring on drives, led by 28-17 when the Sun Devils changed to a zone defense with 6:30 left in the first half.

“We tried to handle them man-to-man and they just went by us,” said Frieder, whose team finished 15-16. “Then we went to a zone and they hit the three-point shots.”

The 49ers, who have won 10 of their last 11 games, made six three-pointers in the first half, three of them by Lucious Harris.

They led at halftime, 45-26, and had their biggest lead, 56-33, with about 15 minutes to play.

“I was concerned coming into the game after such a disappointment less than a week ago,” Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington said. “But I thought if we could do a good job with our press, we could hurt them.”

The press was largely responsible for 20 Arizona State turnovers.

Harris had 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

“Tonight’s game was like our season rolled into one game,” Harrington said. “We pressed and had guys come off the bench and contribute.”

Reserve Ronnie Winbush sparked the 49ers to their first big surge with a steal, which he converted into a dunk, and a three-pointer. He scored all of his 10 points in the first half.

It was the first postseason victory for Long Beach since a 104-87 victory over Pepperdine in the 1980 NIT.

Mitchell, who had changed his mind about writing letters to newspapers about how he thought the 49ers were unfairly slighted by the NCAA tournament selection committee, said, “We’re more than happy to be in the NIT.”