Long Beach Wakes Up as Big West Co-Leader

Long Beach State admittedly didn’t play its most inspired game of the season, which is somewhat curious considering first place in the Big West Conference was at stake.

However, even lackluster efforts are more than enough these days against Cal State Fullerton, which was routed by the 49ers, 73-57, Thursday night before 4,442 at the Pyramid.

The victory was the 49ers’ ninth in a row over conference opponents, and enabled Long Beach, 16-7 overall and 12-3 in the Big West, to tie idle Utah State for first place.

“When you’re playing for a championship, you have to play harder than we did in the first half,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “I mean, how many times in the last 18 years has a Long Beach team had a chance to play for a championship?”

The 49ers righted themselves, with a little prodding from Greenberg, and took control after leading only 33-27 at halftime. As usual, center Joe McNaull was crucial.

McNaull scored a game-high 19 points as Long Beach’s lead grew. The 49ers twice led by as many as 19 points.

“I thought we shared the ball better in the second half,” Greenberg said. “We’re a fun team to watch when we’re playing well.”

The Titans (7-17, 5-11) would probably disagree. McNaull and forwards Terrance O’Kelley and Mike Atkinson combined to limit standout Fullerton forward Winston Peterson to seven points on three-of-nine shooting. Peterson was averaging a team-high 18.6 points.

“For the most part, I thought we were fairly successful against their inside game but we did lose by (16) points,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “Long Beach has the talent and they are well coached.”

Chris Dade led Fullerton with 15 points and James French scored 13. Tye Mays scored 11 for the 49ers and Rasul Salahuddin had 10 points and five assists.