49ers charge past Titans

Long Beach State took early control of the Big West Conference race Thursday night when the 49ers defeated Cal State Fullerton, 95-85, at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

The 49ers, 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the Big West, made eight of their last 10 field-goal attempts, including six in a row during one stretch, and pulled away after Fullerton (13-4, 4-2) had erased a 14-point deficit and taken a short-lived 70-69 lead with 7 minutes 37 seconds to play.

The victory left Long Beach State in a tie with UC Santa Barbara atop the Big West standings, but the 49ers hold a victory over the Gauchos, who did not play Thursday.

It was also a rebound victory for Long Beach, which lost to Cal State Northridge in its last game.

“We used Northridge as a wake-up call,” Long Beach Coach Larry Reynolds said. “I like the way our guys responded. This was a home game for us, and if we want to contend for a conference title, we have to win our home games, so this was a big win for us.”

Long Beach led, 55-41, with 15:08 to play after Aaron Nixon, Louis Darby and Kejuan Johnson each made three-point baskets on consecutive possessions, but Fullerton went inside to Scott Cutley to trim the lead.

Cutley had eight points during a 17-6 Fullerton run that got the Titans to within 59-54, then Bobby Brown scored seven during an 11-2 run that gave Fullerton its only lead of the second half.

That’s when Long Beach got hot, connecting on three three-point baskets over the next four minutes during its six-for-six stretch that gave the 49ers a 91-81 lead with 2:36 to play.

Nixon finished with 27 points, including five-for-seven three-point shooting, for Long Beach, which made seven of 11 three-point shots in the second half. Johnson scored 20 points and Kevin Houston had 14 points and six assists.

Brown had 28 points to lead Fullerton but made only three of 10 three-point shots for the Titans, who were six of 23 from beyond the arc. Cutley had 23 points and 10 rebounds.

-- Peter Yoon

UC Irvine 64, UC Riverside 48 -- Adam Templeton and Michael Hunter scored 11 points apiece to lead the Anteaters past the Highlanders at Irvine.

Darren Fells added 10 rebounds for Irvine (9-10, 3-2 Big West), which has won five of its last seven games.

Henrik Thomsen scored 10 points and Chris Johnson added nine for Riverside (3-16, 0-6), which lost its 14th consecutive game.

The Anteaters shot 50% but Riverside shot 31.6% and a season-low 21.1% from three-point range.

UC Davis 93, Cal State Northridge 88 -- Sophomore Vince Oliver had 30 points and six rebounds to help the Aggies to a double-overtime victory over the Matadors at Davis.

Rommel Marentez and Kyle Brucculeri had 14 points each for Davis (4-12).

Northridge (9-8), which lost to Davis for the first time in five meetings, got 19 points from Jonathan Heard and 16 from Calvin Chitwood.

Davis made 11 of its last 18 shots after missing nine of its first 10 from the field in the first half.

The Aggies had a 32-27 lead at halftime.

WOMEN

No. 10 Arizona State 92, UCLA 52 -- Danielle Orsillo scored 16 points and the Sun Devils routed the Bruins at Tempe, Ariz.

Aubree Johnson added 15 points, Dymond Simon 14, Jill Noe 13 and Briann January 10 for Arizona State (17-2, 7-1 Pac-10), which led by as many as 24 in the first half and 44 in the second.

UCLA (9-11, 3-5), which was led by Lindsey Pluimer’s 17 points, suffered its most one-sided loss of the season.

USC 77, Arizona 68 -- Eshaya Murphy scored 25 of her 30 points in the second half to lead the Trojans (11-7, 5-3) past the Wildcats (7-13, 1-7) at Tucson.

Murphy, who also had 10 rebounds, scored 13 of USC’s last 15 points for the Trojans’ fifth consecutive victory.

Joy Hollingsworth led Arizona (7-13, 1-7) with 20 points.