Long Beach Too Much for Mumford

Lloyd Mumford’s one-man Harlem Globetrotter exhibition in the second half kept UC Irvine in Thursday night’s game against Long Beach State and his two free throws with 10 seconds remaining in regulation sent the game into overtime. But the senior guard ran out of gas and magic as the 49ers scored a 111-106 Big West victory in front of 1,323 in Long Beach’s campus gym.

Mumford, who scored a career-high 31 points, scored on two reverse-pivot, 360-degree looping bank shots. He drove around and through a host of 49ers for flying layups. He scored Irvine’s first four points of overtime on two free throws and his patented herky-jerky drive to the basket. But he turned the ball over on a traveling call and missed a three-pointer as the 49ers worked the ball inside for three consecutive overtime layups to pull ahead, 98-94.

Mumford’s 31 points were the most by an Anteater since Jeff Herdman had 31 against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 21, 1991.

Irvine (5-10 and 2-5 in conference) closed to within three when Khalid Channell stole and inbound pass and made two free throws and then cut the margin to 106-104 when Chris Brown made an incredible hanging double-pump three-pointer with 17 seconds left in overtime. But the Anteaters couldn’t overcome the 49ers’ poise at the free-throw line with the game on the line.

Long Beach (9-5, 4-3) made eight of 10 free throws in the final 2:20 of regulation and nine of 10 at the end of overtime.

The teams combined to shoot 105 free throws on the night. The NCAA record for a game is 130, set by Northern Arizona and Arizona in 1953.

Guard Rod Hannibal led the 49ers with a career-high 29 points and forward James Cotton, who made all five shots he took in the first half, scored a career-high 27, including two layups in overtime.

“I’m just so proud of our kids,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We really hung in there and we just found a way to win. But (Chris) Brown made some shots at the end of the game that only Michael Jordan makes. We thought we had it won several times, but they kept coming back.”

Irvine’s perimeter shooting was a problem early, but Brown, a three-point specialist who hit only four of 21 shots in losses to Pacific and San Jose State last week, finished with 25 points, including six three-pointers.

The first half was a sloppy foul-fest that deteriorated into a free-throw shooting contest that was almost as ugly as the play between fouls. Irvine made only 14 of 26 first-half free throws and Long Beach made 14 of 19 as the teams committed 27 fouls and 24 turnovers before the intermission.

The score was tied, 13-13, when the Anteaters allowed the 49ers to go on a run. This one was only a 10-1 spurt, minor by Irvine standards, but it was enough to put the 49ers ahead, 23-14.

Long Beach’s defense had the Anteaters in a state of disarray and hardly able to complete a pass on the perimeter.