CS Long Beach Prepares for Hawaii : NIT: Passed over by the NCAA, the 49ers and Rainbows will be out to prove themselves in Honolulu tonight.

A few miles from the glittering beach of its hotel, the Cal State Long Beach basketball team practiced in a stuffy gym on Monday. The 49ers looked fresh and suddenly enthusiastic about playing in the National Invitation Tournament.

Since the decision by the NCAA tournament selection committee to bypass Long Beach, the 49ers have received national publicity and also acquired a “we’ll-show-them” attitude.

“Not making the NCAA tournament is the best thing that has happened to Long Beach State basketball in 10 years,” said Coach Joe Harrington, whose team will play the University of Hawaii tonight at 9:30 PST in the second round of the NIT.

The 49ers, who have won 10 of 11 games, are 23-8 and are coming off an 86-71 first-round victory over Arizona State.

“Basically, we got gypped,” forward Troy Joseph said of the NCAA tournament snub. “But what could we do? We have to take what we have and show people what we can do. I wouldn’t say we’re on a mission, that’s for Loyola (Marymount), but we’re very determined. Our goal is to make it to New York.”

Long Beach needs two more victories to reach next week’s semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

After winning at Tempe, Ariz., on Friday night, the 49ers made plans to get to Hawaii as quickly as possible in order to get acclimated to the time change and also to have a chance to get the glamour of the island out of their systems.

They left Phoenix Saturday morning, spent a few hours packing in Long Beach, and arrived in Honolulu late Saturday night.

More hours of travel would be in store for the 49ers if they beat the Rainbows. They would then have to play Friday night at either Stillwater, Okla., or Albuquerque, N. M., against the winner of the Oklahoma State-New Mexico game.

The 49ers will not have an NIT home game. The Long Beach Arena is not available, and even if it were, the 49ers could not guarantee a crowd that would be financially beneficial to the tournament.

“Not having a home game is not a good break,” Harrington said. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t win. We’re a real good basketball team. Our players don’t know how good they really are.”

The 49ers are 10-4 on the road.

Hawaii (24-9) is 13-2 at home, losing only to Duke and Utah in Blaisdell Arena. A capacity crowd of 7,500 is expected tonight, including Hawaii Gov. John Waihee, who sits on the Rainbow bench.

Like Long Beach, Hawaii had expected a bid to the NCAA tournament.

But the Rainbows, who beat Stanford, 69-57, in the first round, are also excited about the NIT, according to Coach Riley Wallace.

“The shame of it is that two of the best teams in the country are going against each other this early in the tournament,” said Wallace, who spent Monday morning shaking hands with fans who formed a two-block line waiting to buy tickets for tonight’s game.

Long Beach and Hawaii have the best records among teams left in the tournament.

The game is expected to be a battle of point guards--Tyrone Mitchell of Long Beach is averaging 10 points and six assists, and Chris Gaines, Hawaii’s all-time leading scorer, leads the Rainbows with a 17-point average.

Lucious Harris, the 49er freshman guard, has scored 90 points in his past four games.

“It’s a tossup,” Wallace said. “Both teams have good athletes and have proven they are winners.”