Knight Rallies Loyola Past Long Beach State, 73-57

Even as making a basket seemed to be the ultimate challenge throughout the first half, Loyola Marymount didn’t show any need to panic in the locker room during halftime of its nonconference game against Long Beach State.

The Lions shook off their offensive inability and used their superior depth and defensive pressure to pull away from the 49ers in the second half for a 73-57 victory in front of 2,710 at Gersten Pavilion.

Loyola (4-1) missed 16 of its first 19 shots and finished the first half shooting 26.7% from the field, yet only trailed 32-29 at halftime. The Lions grabbed the lead for good early in the second half and meticulously built upon it by forcing 12 of Long Beach’s 18 turnovers and turning them into points.

“Our team is much more experienced,” Loyola Coach Steve Aggers said. “There was no concern in the locker room at all. We knew we were going to come out and make our shots.”

Center Matthew Knight helped get the Lions going. After picking up two early fouls and going scoreless in the first half, Knight scored nine of his team-high 13 points in a four-minute stretch to give Loyola a 43-39 lead.

“The coaches were talking about it at halftime, they wanted to get me involved,” said Knight, who had eight rebounds. “To their credit, the players got me into the game.”

Charles Brown had 11 points and Daryl Pegram had 10 for the Lions. Brandon Worthy had a strong game with 10 points, all on free throws, five rebounds and five assists.

Loyola made 29 of 35 free throws, a statistic that troubled Long Beach Coach Larry Reynolds.

“We’re not in proper position on defense,” Reynolds said. “We’re fouling guys off the dribble, we’re reaching at guys. You can’t just let them parade to the free throw line.”

Jibril Hodges came off the bench to lead the 49ers (1-4) with 14 points. Shawn Hawkins added 13.

Eric Stephens

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Arizona State 67, Cal State Northridge 66 -- Steve Moore made three free throws with 14 seconds left to lift the Sun Devils over the Matadors at Tempe, Ariz.

Northridge (1-5) led 66-64 when Moore was fouled on a three-point attempt. He converted all three free throws.

The Matadors had a last chance before a shot off of a rebound by Austin Waggener rimmed out just before the buzzer.

Ike Diogu led Arizona State (5-1) with 25 points and 13 rebounds and Moore had 20 points. Ian Boylan led Northridge with 26 points and Davin White had 14.

Arizona State jumped out to a 16-6 lead. Northridge, though, closed the first half on a 26-9 run to lead 32-27 at halftime.

Pepperdine 84, Azusa Pacific 65 -- Yakhouba Diawara scored 21 points and Alex Acker and Jesse Pinegar had 13 apiece at Malibu for the Waves, who won their sixth consecutive game.

At 6-1, Pepperdine is off to its best start since the 1985-86 season, when it began 7-1.

Azusa Pacific (5-2) got to within five on three occasions early in the second half, the last a 47-42 deficit with 15:05 left.

But Marvin Lea and Acker then hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions to spark a 12-1 run that opened up a 61-45 lead with 11 minutes left.

UC Irvine 81, Sacramento State 69 -- Greg Ethington scored 19 of his career-high 24 points in the second half to lead the Anteaters at home.

Ethington also had eight rebounds and made 14 of 18 free throws for UC Irvine (2-2), which made 31 of 41 free throws.

Jason Harris scored 15 points for the Hornets (1-4), who lost their third consecutive game.

Denver 79, Cal State Fullerton 57 -- Antonio Porch had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Pioneers (3-2) at home.

Despite shooting seven for 23 from the field, Bobby Brown scored 17 to lead the Titans (2-2).

San Diego State 73, UC Santa Barbara 55 -- The Aztecs avenged their only loss of the season by making 12 three-pointers to defeat the Gauchos at Santa Barbara.

San Diego State (4-1) has won four in a row since losing its season opener at home to UC Santa Barbara (1-4).

San Diego State’s Brandon Heath had 20 points.

UC Riverside 102, Cascade 60 -- Rickey Porter scored 23 points including five three-pointers and Steve Williams scored 21 to lead the Highlanders at home.

UC Riverside (3-2) led by 12 at the half and outscored Cascade (0-2), an NAIA school, by 30 points in the second half.