Smart Move Pays Off for CS Long Beach : College basketball: The 49ers make money by staying on campus to upset Nevada Las Vegas.

Lucious Harris was stirred by a dream in the middle of the night earlier this week, an event so real he awoke with chills.

“We beat Vegas,” the senior guard and four-year starter at Cal State Long Beach said of the dream. “I’ve never beaten them. Beating them would be sweet.”

Harris’ dream became the Runnin’ Rebels nightmare Thursday night, when Long Beach upset the 12th-ranked team in the nation, 101-94, ending the longest winning streak in the country at 29. Harris scored 25 points and helped end a 10-game losing streak to Las Vegas--a slump that had become a personal burden to the former Cleveland High standout.

Long Beach (9-1) is off to its best start in 20 years. The last time the team was playing this well, Lute Olson was its coach and the 49ers only practiced in their 1,900-seat campus gymnasium, playing their games elsewhere.

Usually when Las Vegas comes to town, the teams play in the Long Beach Arena. But cash-strapped Long Beach stood to make $5,000 by playing at home, whereas it would barely break even at the downtown Arena. The 49ers also like the odds better in their gym, where they have won 18 in a row.

It’s certainly no Thomas & Mack Center, however. The visiting locker room is reminiscent of those at mid-sized high schools. Las Vegas Coach Rollie Massimino had to go out a back door and run through rain to address reporters in a cramped press trailer nearby.

Long Beach has been through some turbulent times in the last 18 months. This victory has the potential to carry far beyond the walls of the 49ers’ antiquated gymnasium.

“It’s three-fold,” Coach Seth Greenberg said.

“First, the win is good for the kids,” he said. “Then it’s good for the university and for this community. It gives us an opportunity to hang onto something.”

There have been plenty of setbacks recently. Football was dropped in December of 1991 after years of failures on the field and a sea of red ink. Last year, state budget cuts were responsible for two dozen employees, including two popular associate athletic directors, resigning, quitting or being fired. The athletic department is being run by an interim administrator and last month the school’s sports information director and the college president, a strong supporter of athletics, resigned.

Meanwhile, money is so tight, the school did not buy an insurance policy for its halftime shootout that promises $5,000 to anyone who can make a series of shots in 30 seconds, including one from half-court.

The money saved helped pay for repainting the gym, where Long Beach will play host to New Mexico State tonight. It was a gamble that had to be taken, officials say.

“We’ve gotten so much negative publicity with this financial problem,” Greenberg said. “But this financial problem is not just ours, it’s the state’s problem. (All the colleges and universities) are going through it. We’ve just been singled out.”

Can one victory change all of that? Greenberg was cautious.

“We’ve got 19 more games left,” he said. “Beating Vegas doesn’t make our season, it’s just a part of our season. We’ve got to get better . . . in a lot of areas.”