49ers Happy Despite Loss in Hawaii : Basketball: The final game ends in disappointment, but most of Long Beach’s best team in 16 years will be back next year.

The 747’s ultimate destination, as it hummed through the black sky last Saturday night, was Melbourne, although the Cal State Long Beach basketball team, after a nearly six-hour flight, would deplane in Honolulu.

The Australians on board gave the 49ers curious looks, certainly because of their height, but this was a team that many basketball fans were suddenly looking at with curiosity.

The 49ers were on the way to play a second-round National Invitation Tournament game against the University of Hawaii. In the last week they had gained national attention because, despite a 22-8 record, they were not selected for the NCAA tournament.

Only 24 hours before this trip, the 49ers had looked like they belonged in the bigger tournament, routing Arizona State, 86-71, in the NIT’s first round at Tempe, Ariz.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had,” guard Tyrone Mitchell said between the meal and the movie.

Upstairs in first class, Coach Joe Harrington took off his earphones, smiled and said, “How do you like this? Keep winning . . . not bad.”

There would be no home game in the second round. The Long Beach Arena was unavailable, and even if it had been, it is doubtful that NIT officials would have let the 49ers play there for fear of a small crowd.

But the 49ers had become used to not getting the breaks.

“I’ve been getting calls from all over,” Harrington said of the NCAA snub.

The team, which had expected to be playing last weekend in the NCAA tournament in Knoxville, Tenn., mourned for a while, then took out its frustration against Arizona State. “That’s a real basketball team,” Sun Devil Coach Bill Frieder had said after the game.

And so the homeless 49ers--America’s team?--flew on through the night.

Harrington was told before Friday night’s game that the winner would go to Honolulu to play the University of Hawaii.

“We didn’t tell the team until about a minute left in the game,” assistant coach Seth Greenberg said.

After the game, Merle Makings, the team’s promotions and marketing director, picked up a phone in the press room and called a travel agent.

“We need 25 seats on a flight tomorrow night from L.A. to Honolulu,” Makings said to the agent. “We won, 86-71, but it wasn’t that close.”

Plans had to be made and changed. Harrington had to cancel a golf game he had scheduled Saturday in Phoenix. The 49ers took off from Phoenix Saturday morning. When they arrived, they had only about seven hours before they would leave for Los Angeles International Airport.

There were a lot of questions that had flashed through Greenberg’s mind, the foremost being, “How are we going to prepare for them (Hawaii)?” A scouting service in Santa Barbara was called. Four tapes of Hawaii games were ordered. They were put on a bus in Santa Barbara at 7:15 a.m. Saturday.

The lodging problem was solved easily. Arizona State had booked rooms at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu, so the 49ers were able to get those.

The team also had a money problem. Most of its money had been spent in Phoenix. Greenberg said that when the 49ers, a traveling party of 23, arrived at the hotel in Honolulu, they had only $500. Arrangements were made to have money wired. The NIT reimburses all the teams for their expenses, paying $80 per person per day, Greenberg said.

None of the hectic activities seemed to faze the players, whose major concern was getting something to eat before they went to bed. So after midnight Saturday, they walked through sidewalks thick with tourists, hookers and striking hotel workers until they happily came upon a Burger King.

Morning revealed a sparkling paradise, and some of the players went for a dip in the ocean.

But by mid-afternoon Sunday the 49ers were practicing spiritedly in a warm gym on the university campus. They ran up and down the court with a freshness that usually marks the start, not the end, of a season.

On Tuesday night, when the 49ers arrived at Blaisdell Arena, they knew that if they won they would play Friday night at the University of New Mexico. Their full-court press bothered Hawaii early, and when Darrell Faulkner made a three-point shot off the backboard, the 49ers had a 48-43 halftime lead. They had been 18-0 in games in which they led at halftime.

But it all fell apart in the second half before a sellout crowd of 7,617 fans, who made more noise than the 49ers had heard in any arena this season. Hawaii came from behind and won, 84-79.

Hawaii Coach Riley Wallace understood the value of playing at home. “Think we’d like to go to Long Beach and play them?,” he asked. “No way, all I can say is, ‘Thank you, NIT, for giving us this home game.’ ”

Senior guard Mitchell, who had played brilliantly over the last month, said after his final game, “I’m just happy we got this far. There are only two teams that win their last game--the NCAA champion and the NIT champion. I’m going to lay this to rest and go on to something else.”

Mitchell plans to attend law school. Faulkner and Harvey also ended their careers. All the other players on the 23-9 team, the best at Long Beach in 16 years, will be back. “Time to go lift weights and work on school,” Kevin Cutler said.