Long Beach Gets It Right in Opener

Little went right for Long Beach State during the exhibition season.

Two key players were injured, another suspended and the 49ers played poorly in losing their two games. Long Beach needed a big boost--and quickly.

Help arrived Monday night.

Long Beach defeated Wyoming, 79-78, in a nonconference game at the Pyramid, making Coach Wayne Morgan a winner in his regular-season debut. Finally, Morgan had something to smile about.

“This feels absolutely great,” the former Syracuse assistant said. “It hasn’t been easy, and we still made some mistakes tonight, but I saw a lot we can build on. We played a good team tonight, so this was a great building block for us.”

Guard James Cotton, who missed most of the preseason with a broken rib, scored a team-high 24 points while making nine of 13 shots from the field.

“We all wanted to do this for Coach Morgan,” Cotton said. “We wanted to go out and play hard for him because of all the hard work he’s put in.”

Still, Long Beach gave Morgan a scare.

After trailing by 13 points in the first half, Wyoming (1-1) made a late run behind guard LaDrell Whitehead. Whitehead led his team with 28 points, and Wyoming methodically chipped away at Long Beach’s lead.

But point guard Brandon Titus made two free throws with 41 seconds to play to give Long Beach a five-point cushion, 78-73. Titus had 13 points and five assists.

“Everybody knows we played horribly [in the preseason],” Titus said. “We were all so pumped tonight, and I think it showed.”

Wyoming helped out by shooting 28.1% in the first half, failing to get back on defense and repeatedly missing uncontested layups and dunks. Wyoming Coach Joby Wright lost his voice screaming at his players’ mistakes. “You just can’t play like that and expect to win,” he said. “I hope we learned that you have to play a whole game, that you can’t spot a team 13 points and expect to win. You just can’t do that.”