49ers Smiling Again After Defeating Hayward

If your opponent can’t rebound, shoot or play defense--and you can, even a little--life is good. Cal State Hayward fits that description, and it made Long Beach State feel great Saturday.

The 49ers needed a morale boost, which they got during a 101-52 nonconference victory over the overmatched Pioneers in front of 1,864 at the Pyramid.

“It was good to see smiles on my kids’ faces again,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “Just seeing them like that is great. They needed to feel better about themselves.”

After struggling in its first two games, Long Beach (1-2) expected to shine against Hayward, a Division II team that was 3-20 last season. The 49ers’ home opener turned into a party--quickly. The dunks were creative, the three-point shooting impressive and the defense sound.

And from the Pioneers? Well, they tried hard, but pride will only compensate for so much.

“It’s good to get back home,” forward Juaquin Hawkins said. “It’s hard starting out on the road like we did.”

Long Beach went into the game shooting 33.6% from the field. But most of its shots went in against Hayward.

Long Beach shot 59.1% from the field, 48% from three-point range and led by as many 51 points twice in the second half. The 49ers made 58.3% of their three-point attempts in the first half as they wrapped up the game with a 51-19 lead at halftime.

Guard James Cotton played a big role in establishing those numbers. He broke out of his shooting slump by making eight shots in 12 attempts, including five of eight three-pointers, and scoring a team-high 23 points.

“This felt real good,” Cotton said. “Everybody just needed a game like this to get going.”

Hayward (2-2) had a different perspective. Center Chris Blanton led Hayward with 21 points and eight rebounds, but he missed 12 of 18 shots.

How bad was it for the Pioneers?

There are so many examples, but that they shot 20.5% from the field is most telling. Then again, that they missed all 16 three-point shots they tried in the first half might explain more.

The only suspense emerged in the game’s final minute, as fans shouted for Long Beach to score 100 points. With the 49ers leading, 99-50, backup point guard Brandon Titus missed two free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining.

Pioneer point guard Marcus Woods then made two free throws with 2.1 seconds left after being fouled by 49er point guard Rasul Salahuddin. Salahuddin called a 20-second timeout to set up a final play. Greenberg didn’t want to attempt another shot, but decided to run a play after Salahuddin used the timeout.

Falling out of bounds on the left side of the baseline, Salahuddin shot an off-balanced, high-arching 15-footer that went over the backboard from behind and landed softly in the net as time expired. The crowd cheered as teammates piled on Salahuddin at midcourt in celebration.

It was a fitting end for Salahuddin, who played his best game so far. He had 13 points, six assists, four steals and only two turnovers--and left the court smiling.

“We weren’t trying to run it up, it was just all about having fun,” Salahuddin said. “We were just playing it to the crowd.”