49ers Get Knocked Out by Boise St.

There wasn’t much that anyone associated with Long Beach State could do to handle the Boise State onslaught Thursday in the opening round of the Big West Conference men’s basketball tournament.

Not the sizable black-and-gold-draped crowd of 49er fans at the Anaheim Convention Center. Not the glad-handing and booster backslapping of Long Beach President Robert Maxson. And certainly not the 49ers themselves, although senior guard Ramel Lloyd certainly tried, scoring 34 points, nearly half the team’s output.

Flat out, Boise State took it to the 49ers.

“The energy we had today was as great as we have had all year,” Boise State Coach Rod Jensen said after the Broncos had whipped the 49ers, 95-70.

Boise State (17-13) will play Utah State, which defeated Cal State Fullerton, 74-43. Long Beach (18-13), which split its regular-season series with the Broncos, can only sit by the telephone and hope.

“I don’t know the politics of the [National Invitation Tournament],” Coach Wayne Morgan said. “But if we could get [a berth] we’d sure like one.”

There was no denying that Boise State came into this one ready to go and that the 49ers did not. The Broncos made 32 of 54 shots, 10 of 18 from three-point range, for a percentage of 59.3. They converted 21 of 28 free throws and went 11-deep into their roster, which allowed them to apply constant defensive pressure on Long Beach.

“Any time you shoot the ball that well, everything else looks better,” Jensen said.

Bronco forward Abe Jackson finished with 25 points and forward Kejuan Woods had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Long Beach, meanwhile, made only 18 of 37 free throws and four of 20 three-point shots.

Just about everything the 49ers did was wrong, while Boise State, behind five first-half three-point baskets from Jackson, put it away early.

The Broncos led, 20-4, after 6 1/2 minutes. Long Beach cut it to 22-11, but Jackson went on a tear after that, scoring eight of the next 10 points for a 32-14 lead. From there, the Broncos extended their lead to as many as 25 points before halftime.

In the second half, Boise State turned to its inside game, where it burned the Long Beach defense time and time again for easy layups.

Boise State is leaving the Big West to compete in the Western Athletic Conference next season.

“We came down here to win it all,” Woods said. “This was just a preliminary to it all.”

Utah State had 12 players score in double figures in the victory over Cal State Fullerton, led by Dion Bailey with 13.

Shawn Daniels added 11 points and nine rebounds and Toraino Johnson had 11 points for the Aggies (25-5).

Ike Harmon was the only player in double figures for the Titans (5-23) with 12 points in his final college game.