Long Beach State Is Back Where It Started After Victory

The fist pump, he couldn’t hold back.

Yeah, James Cotton knows that the Big West Conference regular season is worth as much as bad advice. And no one need tell Cotton that Long Beach State ended the day in the same position it started.

But the 49er guard will take good signs where he can find them--and what happened Saturday looked pretty good to him.

Cotton scored 27 points as Long Beach ended its regular season Saturday night with a 79-75 Big West Conference victory over Pacific in front of 4,647 at the Pyramid.

A rout it wasn’t, but Long Beach managed to earn a split against the season-long conference leader. Moreover, Long Beach completed a big-time turnaround after losing Jan. 18 at Pacific, 74-57.

You didn’t have to guess how Cotton felt about the victory. In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, he ran along the 49er sideline and pumped his clenched right hand as fans cheered wildly.

“This was a very important victory for us because Pacific is a great team,” Cotton said. “This was just so big, especially after how we played [at Pacific]. We’ve played well at the end of the season, so maybe this momentum can help us in the tournament.”

Undeniably, the 49ers have played better than their record recently.

Long Beach improved to 13-13, 9-7 in the conference. It closed the regular season by winning six of seven games to finish second in the Western Division to Pacific (21-5, 12-4). Long Beach next plays New Mexico State in the Big West tournament Friday at Reno.

The only slip-up during the 49ers’ victory run came Thursday in a 53-51 loss at Idaho, but Coach Wayne Morgan isn’t harping on that.

“We just didn’t shoot well against Idaho,” said Morgan, whose team shot 51% against Pacific. “Today, we played like we’ve been playing for most of the last few weeks.

“I told the kids that they’ve been in school for the whole year, learning how to play together, learning how to make plays. They graduated today.”

Even Tiger Coach Bob Thomason noticed the 49ers’ improvement.

“Long Beach has more people who can do things off the dribble than maybe anybody in the league,” Thomason said.

On Saturday, Pacific turned a 37-32 halftime deficit into a 40-37 lead with 18:18 to play. Guard Mark Boelter, who led Pacific with 24 points, made two uncontested three-pointers during the mini-run that made the crowd and Morgan restless. Timeout, Long Beach.

“It looked like we were forgetting to play defense out there,” Morgan said. “I just yelled at them and reminded them to play defense.”

Long Beach didn’t forget again. Long Beach climbed back behind Cotton and guards Brandon Titus (16 points) and Tommie Davis (15 points, five assists). A jumper by Titus tied the score, 46-46, with 15:20 to go.

From that point, it went back and forth.

The outcome wasn’t decided until Cotton made two free throws with 11.2 seconds left to end the scoring. The game was the last for Titus and his fellow seniors, center Ike Nwankwo and forward Brian Yankelevitz as 49ers. The trio was honored in a pre-game ceremony.

It was also the last game as a 49er for forward Marcus Johnson, who has a season of eligibility remaining but said he plans to leave at the end of the season. Johnson, usually a reserve, started and scored five points with 11 rebounds and five blocks.