49ers Hold On at Finish

Shawn Hawkins had 15 points and eight rebounds and Jibril Hodges had 14 points for Long Beach State, which received help from a missed Cal State Fullerton free throw to win, 66-63, on Saturday at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

After dropping 11 of its previous 12 games, Long Beach has won two in a row for the first time since January 2004. It also ended Fullerton’s five-game winning streak.

Kevin Houston and Cody Pearson each had 12 points for Long Beach, which improved to 5-18 overall and 3-10 in the conference.

Trailing, 44-36, with 14:46 left, the 49ers went on a 13-4 run to take a 49-48 lead with 9:34 left. Fullerton (13-8, 7-5) took the lead, 60-59, on Jermaine Harper’s four-point play with 1:50 left.

Long Beach then scored seven straight points to build a 66-60 lead with 23.6 seconds left. Yaphett King’s three-point basket made it 66-63 with 16.7 left.

The Titans got the ball back after Anthony Coleman missed two free throws, but Bobby Brown missed a three-pointer.

Fullerton stole the inbounds pass, but King missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw chance.

Coleman’s rebound secured the victory.

King had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Fullerton.

UC Irvine 56, UC Riverside 53 -- Greg Ethington scored 17 points and Ross Schraeder made two free throws with 11.5 seconds to play to lead the host Anteaters.

Aaron Fitzgerald had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists as the Anteaters (11-10, 5-8) broke a three-game losing streak.

Steve Williams scored 14 points and Brent Ost 13 for the Highlanders (8-14, 3-9), who have lost four of their last five.

Irvine held a 48-41 lead with 8:12 to play, but Riverside used a 12-6 run to close within 54-53 on Larry Cunningham’s driving layup with 12.3 seconds left.

After Schraeder made two free throws, Cunningham dribbled toward the basket and passed to Ost for a three-point shot that would have forced overtime, but the buzzer sounded before he could shoot.

Cal State Northridge 59, Idaho 54 -- Davin White scored 23 points to lead the Matadors (13-10, 10-4) at Moscow, Idaho.

Idaho (8-16, 6-7) led by as many as 12 points in the first half but was held to 18% shooting in the second half and did not make a shot in the last six minutes.