Long Beach Gets Act Together

For one half Wednesday night, Long Beach State gave Coach Wayne Morgan exactly what he wanted to see.

The 49ers pulled out the track shoes and blew past Boise State in the second half to win a critical Big West Conference game in grand style, 80-62, before 1,460 at the Pyramid.

It all came together for Long Beach State, 14-11 overall and a half-game out of third place behind UC Santa Barbara in the Big West at 7-5. With a 17-0 run, Long Beach momentarily cast aside memories of recent disappointing losses and tougher-than-expected victories. That run broke a 37-37 tie and the 49ers coasted.

“That’s the way we play,” Morgan said. “That’s the way we practice. We like to run and we’re an up-tempo team. For about five or six minutes, that was a pure version of how I’d like us to play.”

Ramel Lloyd had nine of his 24 points in the spurt, finishing off fast breaks with either a dunk or spin moves to the basket. Freshman Kevin Roberts later joined in the fun with 12 points, including an alley-oop slam off a pass from Lloyd that lit up the crowd.

Lloyd had six of the 49ers’ 16 assists.

“Their transition was great tonight,” Boise State Coach Rod Jensen said. “Any time you’re giving up dunks to those guys, it only gets them more fired up.”

Center Travis Reed also had his way inside with the smallish Broncos. Using his 6-foot-8, 240-pound frame, Reed muscled his way for 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Kejuan Woods and Abe Jackson led Boise State (13-11, 5-6) with 15 points each.