No Surprise: 49ers Sent Home by New Mexico State

Nothing new happened, no surprises.

There weren’t any added wrinkles or single-game gimmicks. Just basketball business as usual.

Of course, more of the same for Long Beach State is not necessarily a good thing when it plays New Mexico State. On Friday night, though, it was even worse than usual.

New Mexico State stuck to its proven game plan against Long Beach in the first round of the Big West tournament. The result was predictable: An 88-76 New Mexico State victory in front of 7,385 at the Lawlor Events Center that ended Long Beach’s disappointing season.

“This is really hard,” said Long Beach guard James Cotton, who scored 23 points. “We all wanted to get to the [NCAA tournament], so it hurts to lose like this. But we lost to a better team.”

The Aggies also defeated the 49ers, 84-64, Jan. 30 at Las Cruces, N.M. The approach to the latest Aggie victory was painfully familiar to the 49ers. Time might heal wounds, but that alone cannot fix problems.

“I was pleased with our improvement from the last time,” said Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan, whose first 49er team finished 13-14. “Our problem was that we didn’t execute well enough offensively in the first half. Our problems were on that end.”

Playing well in its matchup zone, New Mexico State took the game away from Long Beach early in the first half. Unable to penetrate the zone, the 49ers were reduced to firing three-point attempts and hoping for the best.

They didn’t get lucky.

As the 49ers’ shots clanked off the rim, the Aggies took the lead and kept running. The Aggies went ahead, 49-26, when forward Louis Richardson grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked with 4:19 left in the half while several 49ers stood around him watching.

Which brings us to the 49ers’ other big problem. Again, they didn’t box out well. The Aggies grabbed a season-high 20 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the 49ers, 45-33, when the teams last met in Las Cruces. This time, the Aggies had 42 rebounds, 12 offensive.

Long Beach actually outrebounded New Mexico State, 43-42, and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. But Long Beach also shot 38.2%, so that pretty much balanced out any positives. And Morgan attributed the improved rebounding figures to poor shooting.

“They do a good job in their matchup [zone] and it is kind of unique,” Morgan said. “I thought we came out focused and prepared, but we had some problems with it.”

By halftime, the 49ers trailed, 54-36. But, to their credit, the 49ers fought until they ran out of time.

Long Beach went on an impressive second-half run. A layup by Cotton cut New Mexico State’s lead to 65-59 with 7:53 to play. That capped a 23-11 run and put Long Beach closer than it had been since early in the first half.

But New Mexico State, which tied for first in the Eastern Division, regained control, made its free throws and ended Long Beach’s season. Long Beach was picked by many conference observers to win the Big West tournament but struggled for most of the season.

“I thought we played well in the first half and not as well in the second,” said New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy. “But I thought we played pretty strong defensively for the whole game. That was a big difference.”

The 49ers were led by guard Brandon Titus, who scored 24 points. Louis Richardson and Enoch Davis paced the Aggies (19-8) with 18 points apiece.

In other first-round games:

Pacific 68, Boise State 52--Corey Anders scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds and Mark Boelter scored 17 points as Pacific (22-5), bidding for its first Big West tournament title in 18 years, won its first-round game. The Tigers will face Utah State in today’s semifinals.

Utah State 81, UC Santa Barbara 66--Marcus Saxon scored 25 points, including 10 straight free throws in the final 2:20 of the game, to spark Utah State (20-8).