Long Beach Finally Gets to Have Fun

Coaches rarely endorse playground basketball. But considering what his team has been through recently, Long Beach State Coach Seth Greenberg let his players have their fun.

There were acrobatic dunks, stylish passes and many smiles. The latter was what Greenberg enjoyed the most.

Greenberg needed a good time as much as anyone, and Long Beach rewarded its weary coach by racing to a 76-63 Big West Conference victory Thursday night over San Jose State before 2,418 at the Event Center.

“You know, with as much as we’ve been through, it feels real good to win a basketball game and just talk about basketball,” Greenberg said.

“We really haven’t had much fun lately. I told myself that I was going to come out tonight, coach basketball and have some fun.”

An anti-Semitic epithet and several alleged incidents of racism were apparently directed at Long Beach on Monday night at New Mexico State. The 49ers also lost to the Aggies, 76-63, their second consecutive Big West defeat.

But led by guard James Cotton, who scored a career-high 30 points, Long Beach (9-7 overall, 4-3 in the Big West) bounced back.

In its most impressive stretch of the season, Long Beach outscored San Jose, 30-7, during a 10-minute second-half run. When the run ended with 3:53 remaining in the game, Long Beach had a 74-59 lead and San Jose (4-12, 3-5) was wondering what happened.

49er Notes

New Mexico State officials said they expect to complete their investigation today into the origin of an anti-Semitic epithet and several alleged incidents of racism that were apparently directed at Long Beach State on Monday night in Las Cruces, N.M., and will forward their results to the Big West Conference.