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49ers Team Up on San Jose State : Big West: Everybody gets in on the act in a 103-87 victory, fifth in the last seven games for Cal State Long Beach.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The subplots in Cal State Long Beach’s 103-87 Big West Conference laugher over San Jose State on Thursday night in the campus gym kept things interesting, at least.

The 49er victory was their fifth in the last seven games. Suddenly, the team that snored through much of February, losing four of seven games, appears to have awakened. Coupled with Pacific’s 73-65 loss at UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach moved into a third-place tie with Pacific at 11-6. The teams play their regular-season finale in the campus gym Saturday.

Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg was able to play reserves more than usual. Reserves Mike Atkinson (five points, five rebounds in 15 minutes), Terrance O’Kelley (10 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in 15 minutes), and Brian Camper (14 points and three assists in 25 minutes) played a role in the victory.

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Starting center Chris Tower ended a two-game slump by scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, and forward Rod Hannibal had 11 points and eight assists.

The 49ers, who made 21 of 33 shots in the first half, built a 19-point lead, then expanded it to 30 points in the second.

“I think we got into a nice substitution pattern that was very positive,” said Greenberg, who usually plays a seven-man rotation that does not include O’Kelley.

“Now that we are getting down to tournament time, that will help us.”

If there was a downside to victory for Long Beach (18-8 overall), it happened to senior guard Lucious Harris. The Big West’s all-time scoring leader finished with 26 points but injured his left wrist twice in hard falls after layup attempts in which he was fouled. Greenberg said Harris wasn’t seriously hurt, but he appeared to be in some discomfort after the wrist was taped after the first fall, with 5:15 to play in the first half.

Daryl Scott’s 17 points and 10 rebounds in only 19 minutes led San Jose State (7-18, 4-13), which is clinging to hopes that it can nudge UC Irvine out of the eighth and final conference playoff spot.

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