Long Beach Wins Big, Gets the Big Ten Next

For two days, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team made the most of hotel life in the cold and snow of central Indiana.

The 49ers then made the most of the first seven minutes of their opening-round game against Mercer on Friday in Purdue’s Boilermaker Invitational.

Long Beach State (3-1) raced to an 18-0 lead against Mercer and romped to a 76-45 victory. The 49ers will play Big Ten Conference champion Purdue in tonight’s championship game.

Purdue scored a 69-55 victory against Cornell in Friday night’s opener.

Junior guard James Cotton scored nine of his game-high 28 points during the 49ers’ 18-0 start. Cotton, who entered with a 26-point average, made 11 of 15 shots and all four free throws against Mercer (1-2).

“This is something you dream about--making all of your shots, boxing out, getting rebounds, running the floor and playing good defense,” Cotton said.

“We were just so anxious to play. We got here two days ago, so everyone has been at the hotel, anxiously waiting to play.”

Cotton said playing in Purdue’s 14,123-seat Mackey Arena inspired him.

“I love playing in the big time,” Cotton said. “My freshman year, we went to Iowa and had a tremendous experience. And Purdue fans are great. I was watching them before the game, and they really get up and cheer. I think it helped our team coming into an environment like this.”

Long Beach State’s aggressive defense forced 23 turnovers, which produced 27 points for the 49ers.

Center Brian Yankelevitz, who added eight points, six rebounds and five assists, said he was equally ready to play Friday night.

“Indiana is a great basketball state,” he said, “so we wanted to make a statement that, ‘Hey, we can play basketball out in California too.’ ”