Long Beach State Overcomes Air Force in Home Opener

Back home after a poor defensive showing against Southern Illinois, Long Beach State promptly watched Air Force make 63% of its shots in the 49ers’ first chance to impress their faithful.

This time, however, the 49ers didn’t let their opponent completely have its way. They survived a three-point onslaught by forcing 25 turnovers in an 84-77 victory Tuesday night before 2,108 at the Pyramid.

Long Beach (1-1) got 24 points from senior guard Ramel Lloyd and 17 points and seven rebounds from junior forward Lemi Williams. The two came up big late as Williams grabbed an offensive rebound between two defenders and passed to Lloyd, who hit a three-point shot for a 78-70 lead with 1:09 to play.

The 49ers made six of eight free throws down the stretch.

“It was big,” Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan said of Williams’ rebound. “Lemi did a lot of great things tonight. Ramel did some great things tonight.”

Air Force (1-2) didn’t look like a team that was coming off a 40-point loss to Wake Forest. The Falcons made 29 of 46 shots, 15 of 26 from three-point range.

Freshman Robert Todd scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Reserve Lamoni Yazzie made five three-point shots and scored 17 points.