Long Beach Riding High With Victory : Basketball: 49ers, whose spirits were low after loss to Miami of Ohio, get back on track by beating St. Mary’s, 86-69.

The improvement was obvious and impressive. If Long Beach State can keep it up, the fun should continue too.

Long Beach, three nights after a horrid shooting performance, looked super from the field and the free-throw line Tuesday night against St. Mary’s. The result was an 86-69 nonconference victory before 2,618 at the Pyramid, giving the 49ers lots to feel good about.

“The last game we lost was more heartbreaking that anything,” 49er point guard Rasul Salahuddin said. “We played hard and we had it, we just didn’t hit the open shots. We wanted to come out tonight and hit all those open shots we missed the last game.”

The 49ers’ spirits were pretty low after losing to Miami of Ohio in overtime, 69-62, Saturday night in the Las Vegas Bowl Classic. Long Beach shot 30% from the field and Miami only 27.7% in winning--big factors in Long Beach’s lousy mood.

Long Beach (4-3) experienced the opposite against St. Mary’s (3-2). The 49ers shot 61.9% from the field, 54.5% from three-point range and 71.8% from the free-throw line.

“I thought we played our [butts] off against Miami of Ohio, we just didn’t make shots,” Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We carried that intensity over to today, but we made shots and we made free throws.”

Salahuddin and his backcourt mate, James Cotton, led the turnaround. Salahuddin scored 21 points, making four of six three-pointers. Cotton had a team-high 25 points and made both of his three-point attempts.

“This was the first game I was really aggressive offensively,” Cotton said. “I came out tonight and told myself to be aggressive and attack the rim. Our whole team was more aggressive tonight.”

Forwards Juaquin Hawkins and Akeli Jackson also played well, scoring 12 points apiece. The Long Beach frontline combined to shut down St. Mary’s center Jumoke Horton, 6 feet 9 and 295 pounds. However, Horton was a big softy against Long Beach, getting only two points and one rebound.

Still, Long Beach had to battle because the Gaels have guard David Sivulich. Sivulich scored a game-high 33 points, making eight of 15 three-pointers.

“Oh, man, that guy is incredible,” Cotton said. “I’ve never seen anyone with range like that.”

Sivulich scored 17 in the first half as the smaller, less-athletic Gaels stayed with the 49ers. Long Beach tied the score, 34-34, right before halftime when Salahuddin teamed with Hawkins on an alley-oop as the buzzer sounded.

St. Mary’s point guard Kamran Sufi struggled to run the offense against Salahuddin’s tough defense. Salahuddin had four steals and pressured Sufi, a standout at Mater Dei High, into eight turnovers.

A three-pointer by Salahuddin gave Long Beach a 10-point lead, 52-42, with 11:47 to play. But the Gaels hung around thanks to the three-pointer, especially from Sivulich.

“They set a lot of screens for him,” Salahuddin said. “As you see, he has unlimited range, but he had a lot of good looks at the basket. We tried to get out on him, but he just kept putting them up.”

A three-pointer by guard Eric Knapp, who with 11 points was the only other St. Mary’s player in double figures, cut Long Beach’s lead to 56-51 with 7:34 to go. The Gaels stalled there as Salahuddin’s shooting and defense triggered a 15-3 run that decided the outcome.

“Mental mistakes, that’s what did it to us,” St. Mary’s Coach Ernie Kent said. “We were right there with them until late in the game. We just made too many mistakes down the stretch.”

* 49ERS BEAT ST. MARY’S: James Cotton scored 25 points in Long Beach State’s 86-69 victory over St. Mary’s. C2