Long Beach State Regains Confidence, Routs Utah State

Two consecutive close losses hurt, but didn’t wreck Long Beach State’s psyche. One more, though, might have pushed the team over the edge.

Fortunately for the 49ers, they avoided further trauma Saturday by defeating Utah State, 71-50, in a Big West Conference game in front of 8,059 at the Smith Spectrum.

“We felt that we really needed this win,” 49er point guard Rasul Salahuddin said. “This win puts us right back up there [in the standings].

“All the teams in the conference will see we won up here and see that we’re back together again. This sets a tone.”

Long Beach, 15-9 and 10-5 in the Big West, virtually moved into a first-place tie with UC Irvine. Irvine (13-8, 9-4) lost to New Mexico State, 83-77, on Saturday night at Las Cruces, N.M. Long Beach trails by a few percentage points.

Salahuddin scored a game-high 24 points for the 49ers, who rallied from large deficits in their last two games before losing each by three points. The 49ers didn’t have to fight back this time, as they took control midway through the first half.

The 49ers swept the season series for the first time since 1992-93. The 49ers defeated the Aggies, 80-73, Jan. 18 at the Pyramid.

“This is the low point of my career,” Aggie Coach Larry Eustachy said. “This is embarrassing and disappointing.

“They are a talented team. They’re bigger, stronger and more athletic than us. We caught them on the wrong night.”

Guard James Cotton, the Big West’s leading scorer, had 14 points. Forward Silas Mills led Utah State (13-13, 7-6) with 12 points and six rebounds.

Center Eric Franson, the Big West player of the year last season, had only six points and four rebounds. Entering the game, Mills and Franson had combined averages of 35.3 points and 16.9 rebounds.

“I thought our big people did a great job on [Mills and Franson],” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “You can’t give enough credit to [forward] Akeli [Jackson] giving weak-side help, and [center] Brian [Yankelevitz] did a great job too.”

Last season at Utah State, Long Beach was out of sync from the start and lost, 87-67. No such problems this time around.

The 49ers asserted themselves midway through the first half and led at halftime, 43-29. Mills made one of eight field-goal attempts in the first half.

Utah State made only a mini run after halftime. A Cotton jump shot in the lane gave Long Beach a 51-39 lead with 9:07 to play. However, a Franson layup and Womack steal and dunk cut the lead to 51-45 with 7:37 left.

Then Salahuddin took over. Salahuddin, the Big West leader in steals, stole the ball from Franson on consecutive possessions and made two free throws and a three-pointer to push the lead to 58-45 with 4:45 remaining.

That was it.

“Coach challenged me tonight,” said Salahuddin, who made four of six three-point attempts. “I had a lot of open looks [in a 76-73 loss at Nevada on Thursday], but I just didn’t knock them down. Tonight, I shot with a lot of confidence. I just felt so good.”

Long Beach passed well throughout the first half, executing its half-court offense better than in any other game this season. Setting quick, precise screens, Long Beach had several uncontested field-goal opportunities.

The 49ers didn’t waste their chances, shooting a season-high 64.3% from the field in the half. The 49ers’ previous best was 64% against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 10 at the Pyramid. The 49ers also made 62.5% of their three-point attempts against the Aggies.

Overall, Long Beach shot 53.1% from the field. Utah State made 39.1% of its attempts.