UC Santa Barbara Beats CS Long Beach

So much for its moment of fleeting glory.

After nearly two decades, Cal State Long Beach popped into the Associated Press top 25 Monday afternoon, after two consecutive road victories and a four-game streak overall that included a Jan. 7 victory over Nevada Las Vegas.

Late Monday night, the 49ers walked out of the Events Center at UC Santa Barbara with that ranking merely a memory.

After taking a 22-6 lead in front of a national cable television audience and a crowd of 6,000, Long Beach lost to UC Santa Barbara, 61-60, in a Big West Conference game.

After falling behind by five points several times during the second half, the 49ers stayed close. Santa Barbara had the ball and a 61-57 lead with less than a minute to play after Idris Jones made a three-pointer and Ray Kelly made one of two free throws.

But 49er center Chris Tower made a three-point shot with 23 seconds to play, and with nine seconds left, the 49ers’ Lucious Harris and Jeff Rogers tied up Duane Carter with the possession arrow in favor of Long Beach.

Harris, the conference scoring leader who finished with 16 points--nine below his average--got the call. He drove the lane through defenders but missed a fingertip lay-in with two seconds on the clock.

“That was the play we called,” said forward Bryon Russell, who was in the key at the time. “I was hoping and praying it would fall.”

The ball rolled around the rim, but wouldn’t fall.

“I just couldn’t get going tonight,” Harris said. “Seemed like everything was coming up short.”

Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said Long Beach shouldn’t be concerned with the loss.

“They are a very good team,” he said. “In the poll I vote in, I have them in the top 20.”

The 49ers dropped to 12-2, 5-2 in the conference. Santa Barbara, led by Michael Meyer’s 16 points, is 9-4 and 2-3.

“We didn’t play well, but coming off our last road trip, we played hard,” Pimm said.