CS Long Beach Has Something in Reserve : Big West: Atkinson and Rogers play key roles in an 89-72 victory over UC Irvine.

Freshman center Mike Atkinson, a redshirt last season, didn’t expect to see much playing time this year for Cal State Long Beach. The 49ers were short of true guards, but not front-court players.

But Atkinson has steadily increased his playing time, and Saturday night he and reserve guard Jeff Rogers were the reasons the sluggish 49ers were able to hold of pesky UC Irvine, 89-72, in a Big West Conference game.

Atkinson keyed a 10-0 run midway through the first half with a pair of steals and a dunk, then replaced starting center Chris Tower late in the second half after Tower fouled out. Atkinson promptly got another dunk and an assist.

“Mike always makes the right decision,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said of Atkinson. “Both he and Rogers gave us some really positive minutes off the bench.”

Rogers, who averages 13 minutes, added two key rebounds and some steady ballhandling down the stretch.

Playing before 1,565 in the University Gymnasium, the 49ers, 15-9 overall and 9-6 in the conference, won for the third time in six days and increased their home-court streak to 13 games, dating to last season. Irvine fell to 2-13 and 5-9.

It took a tongue-lashing from Greenberg with 18:37 remaining in the second half to get the 49ers going.

“I challenged them to compete,” Greenberg said. “I was disappointed with their attitude and presence on the floor.”

Lucious Harris, who finished with 20 points, credited Atkinson with waking the team up.

“He is so fundamentally sound,” Harris said. “He just does everything perfect.”

It was another case of UC Irvine playing almost well enough to win, but falling short down the stretch. Although Long Beach led by as many as 13 points early in the game, a basket by Keith Stewart of Irvine with 13:26 left tied the score, 50-50.

But Long Beach made 16 of 18 free throws from that point on. When Harris dunked off a back-door pass from Atkinson with 5:41 to go, the 49ers had a 74-62 lead.

“I was hoping to play some this year,” said the 6-foot-7 Atkinson, who had nine points, three steals and two assists in 18 minutes. “But playing this much has been very exciting for me.”

Irvine led, 18-12, with 7 1/2 minutes gone in the first half, but Long Beach went on a 16-4 run and led, 28-22, with 7:32 to go.

Irvine stayed within four points for a while, but then five consecutive steals by Long Beach enabled the 49ers to take a 38-25 lead.