This Time, Last-Second Shot Fails

Another road game, another rally. And Brandon Titus with the ball in his hands at the end--again.

Titus has lived the scene before and felt pretty good the last time fate picked him. This time, though, fate didn’t pick him to win.

Or Long Beach State.

The standout Long Beach guard missed a 14-foot jumper as time expired in Idaho’s 53-51 Big West Conference victory Thursday night in front of 3,249 at the Kibbie Dome, which stopped the 49ers’ five-game winning streak.

On Feb. 13, Titus made a three-pointer as time expired to give Long Beach a 68-67 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He didn’t forget.

“It was kind of a similar situation and I had that in the back of my mind,” Titus said. “You don’t want to think about things like that, but you do. I felt just like I did the last time--like I could get the shot off and it was going to be good.

“The ball just didn’t fall for me this time.”

Because it didn’t, Long Beach lost for the first time since Feb. 6. Nevada defeated Long Beach, 85-82, in overtime at the Pyramid that day, and Long Beach has been one of the Big West’s best since. But not against Idaho.

“Brandon’s shot was a good shot,” said Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan, whose team shot 35.6% from the field. “Our problem was we never got into a situation where we really clicked. We just never really got going, offensively or defensively.”

The 49ers dropped to 12-13 overall and 8-7 in the Big West. The 49ers, who had previously clinched second place in the Western Division, lost their first road game since Feb. 2 against North Texas, 78-69.

On Thursday, Long Beach had other chances besides Titus’ final shot.

Long Beach failed to score after forward Brian Yankelevitz made two free throws with 2:44 left to cut Idaho’s lead to 52-51. Forward Marcus Johnson missed two free throws with two minutes left that would have given Long Beach a one-point lead.

Idaho guard Derrick Elliott made one of two free throws with 1:05 left to give his team a 53-51 lead and close the game’s scoring. Elliott only scored two points, but had eight assists and no turnovers.

Guard James Cotton scored a game-high 20 points for Long Beach, but Cotton was unable to break free from the Vandals’ defense in the final minute. He was tied up on one shot and missed another.

Titus scored 10 points--more than six below his average. Titus, who leads the team in field-goal percentage, also had an uncharacteristically bad night from the field: four of 16.

“Brandon usually doesn’t shoot like that,” Morgan said. “This was one of his poorer nights, and we made a lot of mistakes.”

Forward Kevin Byrne and center Jason Jackman each scored 13 for Idaho (13-16, 5-10). If Coach Kermit Davis’ team played every game like it did against Long Beach, it probably wouldn’t occupy its current position: last in the Eastern Division.

“Cotton and Titus might be the best two wing players in the conference, so we were just trying to keep them off-balance,” Davis said. “I thought we did a really good job defensively.”

Long Beach plays Pacific in a regular-season finale Saturday at the Pyramid. Cotton said he plans to end the season on a high note.

“I’m going to come out angry,” Cotton said. “I’m just going to bring a lot of anger into that game.”