LONG BEACH STATE NOTEBOOK / JASON REID : 49ers Are Still Reveling in Spirit of Pyramid

The festive mood surrounding last week’s opening of The Pyramid is still very present in the Long Beach State athletic department.

Officials expected a large crowd for the inaugural men’s basketball game Wednesday night against Detroit Mercy. They weren’t disappointed, as 5,021--the largest on-campus crowd in school history--watched the 49ers win their season-opener, 71-64.

There were even people hanging around The Pyramid hours before the game, asking: “Anyone got tickets?” Previously, giving 49er tickets away wasn’t easy.

But what has them especially giddy in the athletic offices is the turnout for Saturday’s game against College of Notre Dame, a Division II school from Belmont in the Bay Area. As expected, Long Beach routed the Argonauts, 96-68. However, there was a surprise: a crowd of 3,247.

“I was one of the skeptics, I thought there were going to be about 1,200 people here tonight,” Coach Seth Greenberg said after the game. “I was wrong. It’s great to see the community turn out and be enthusiastic and excited. The community was more enthusiastic than my team was.”

The crowd size also impressed Bill Shumard, 49er assistant athletic director.

“I was as gratified with Saturday as I was with Wednesday,” he said. “We knew that game was going to be a tough sell.”

The Pyramid ticket office made $2,100 in walk-up sales, Shumard said. Usually, Shumard said, the school would only do that much walk-up business in The Gold Mine for games against Nevada Las Vegas.

What’s more, the attendance probably would have been significantly higher had a school newspaper correctly listed the game time as 7 p.m. instead of 1 p.m.

“I would say,” Shumard said, “that we’re not going to have a quieter day in The Pyramid all season.”

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Guard that guy! So, who’s the 49ers’ best three-point shooter?

Well, that distinction belongs to 49er Athletic Director Dave O’Brien, Shumard said. O’Brien had the long-range touch working late Wednesday night when elated athletic officials and support staff played a pickup game in The Pyramid after the basketball team’s victory.

“We didn’t get out of there until 4 a.m.,” Shumard said. “The clean-up crew stopped and watched. Everyone worked so hard, it was the perfect ending to the night.”

O’Brien was the star--and Shumard insists no one took it easy on the boss.

“He’s the best shooter in the entire program,” Shumard said, jokingly. “Too bad he’s out of eligibility.”

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Please, be patient: They’ll come if you build it--but then you have to let them play.

Lost in last week’s euphoria is the fact that The Pyramid is not finished. The company building it, Nielsen Construction of San Diego, only loaned the building to the athletic administration for Wednesday’s nationally televised game on ESPN. No construction occurred over the weekend, allowing the school to also schedule the men’s basketball game against College of Notre Dame and the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament match against Montana.

Now, it’s back to The Gold Mine for the Northwest Regional volleyball semifinals and final this weekend. The athletic administration heard grumblings last week from the women’s basketball team about not yet being able to play its games in The Pyramid. The school probably won’t take possession of the building until January. The only other event in The Pyramid before then will be a men’s basketball game against Montana Dec. 21.

Concessions have been made to work around the men’s basketball schedule because of season ticket sales. Expected crowds cannot fit in The Gold Mine and games would have to be moved to the Long Beach Sports Arena.

“It’s a very difficult and sensitive issue, but the building doesn’t belong to us yet,” Shumard said. “This will be forgotten once we’re in there, and up and running.”

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Revenge factor? The women’s volleyball team hasn’t lost since it was defeated by Hawaii, 15-10, 15-5, 16-14, in a Big West Conference match Nov. 2 at The Gold Mine.

Long Beach recovered from the loss and won its fourth straight conference title. Still, the 49ers haven’t forgotten the experience.

Their chance to do something about it arrives at 8 p.m. Friday, when they play Hawaii in a Northwest Regional semifinal match at The Gold Mine.

Long Beach is 26-5. Hawaii, the Big West runner-up, is 25-4.

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Making the point: True it’s early, but point guard Rasul Salahuddin has been all Greenberg hoped he’d be.

The junior transfer from Dixie College in Utah averaged 11 points, six assists and five steals in two games. A converted shooting guard, Salahuddin, 6 feet 4, should be able to overpower most point guards and is also extremely quick.

“I’m very excited about Rasul,” Greenberg said. “He gives us a presence we haven’t had.”