Long Beach Plays It Close but Doesn’t Make Key Shot

The adage that good teams win close games was proved again Saturday night as 20th-ranked New Mexico State, played as tightly as possible by Cal State Long Beach, edged the 49ers, 66-64, in the university gym.

The Aggies won on a jump shot from the right side by guard William Benjamin with nine seconds remaining.

After a timeout, the Aggies executed the play Coach Neil McCarthy had called for. Randy Brown penetrated down the right side of the lane and passed out to Benjamin, whose man had helped converge on Brown.

“He showed great courage making it,” McCarthy said of Benjamin.

The Aggies improved to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the Big West Conference, and ended a four-game losing streak in the Long Beach gym.

“This is a good rivalry and it’s tough for us to play here,” McCarthy said. “They’re always up for us and tonight had to be one of their best efforts. They didn’t play like a 7-11 team.”

The 49ers are 7-11 and 3-6.

With eight seconds left, Long Beach inbounded the ball to Bobby Sears, who dribbled up the court, broke to his left and tried for a tying jump shot, but the ball bounced off the rim to Benjamin as the game ended.

“I thought we played well enough to win, but we didn’t rebound as well as we needed to down the stretch,” said Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg.

With the Aggies trailing, 63-61, forward Tracey Ware, who led all scorers with 23 points, fought for a rebound, grabbed it and was fouled. He converted the three-point play for a 64-63 lead.

Bryon Russell made one of two free throws to tie it, 64-64, with 44 seconds left.

The 49ers, who had made an average of four three-point shots a game, hit five in the first half. They overcame a 28-21 deficit by scoring nine consecutive points and led at the half, 38-37.

There were 18 lead changes and the teams were never separated by more than three points in the second half.

The 49ers had one of their better shooting games. They outshot New Mexico State, 48.8% to 44.6%.

But the Aggies made their most important shot, and Long Beach didn’t.