Bibbins Scores 27 to Lead 49ers into Semis

Courtesy of Zyaire Porter T.G. Sportstv1

Anaheim, Calif. -- With a big night from Long Beach State 49ers’ point guard Justin Bibbins, they advance to the semifinals of the Big West tournament with a 73-62 win over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. The junior guard took it upon himself to end the season for the Rainbow Warriors with his spectacular play.

“The bigs set great screens on the pick and rolls and got me open for jumpers.” said Bibbins. “I didn’t have to hunt for it, it just came to me within the offense. That’s what is great about this team… It doesn’t matter who is scoring, whoever has the hot hand, that’s who we’re going to. Tonight was just my night.”

First, it was Bibbins weaving through the defense and draining a mid-range jumper then he bounced a no look pass that found Roschon Prince in traffic, which he powered in for a bucket. That was just the start of a 19-2 run during a seven minutes and 18 seconds frame, in which they held Hawaii without a single field goal.

In contrast, Hawaii opened the game by scoring the first five points and look to seize control. For the Rainbow Warriors, it was Gibson Johnson who couldn’t be stopped in the early going, as he set the tone by making his first five baskets. After Johnson cooled off, Noah Allen carried the load for the Rainbow Warriors when he caught fire by scoring 10 consecutive team points in the last four minutes of the first half, including two three pointers. Hawaii held a 35-33 lead at halftime.

Bibbins scored 19 points in the first half on six for seven shooting, including all five of his attempts from the line. He scored nine of the 49ers’ first 13 points, which the 49ers desperately needed him to do because they struggled to put the ball in the basket throughout the first 12 minutes.

“Justin set the tone for us mentally,” said Long Beach State Head Coach Dan Monson. “He came out and was just so impressive offensively. He really carried us until we could get some other guys comfortable in the flow.”

The second half played out just like most of the game did, with the teams continuing to trade baskets. Only this time around, it was Long Beach who used a 15-6 run to take a lead they wouldn’t give up.

Hawaii 6-0 run to tie the game at 54 at 10-minute mark to make things interesting but a Bibbins jumper ended their hopes and it also jumpstarted an 10-0 run that put the 49ers in complete control of the game to easily close it out.

Bibbins was a perfect 9-9 from free throw line in the game en route to his game-high 27 points. He has now made 21 consecutive from the charity stripe.  Barry Ogalue was a perfect 7-7 from the floor in scoring 16 points. Temidayo Yussuf was also perfect from the floor; he made all four of his shots and added nine rebounds.

Long Beach State has advanced to the semifinals in eight of the last nine years.

Ducks get Home Cooking on the Road to Beat Trojans

Jordan Bell looks to drive

William Johnson/T.G.Sportstv1/

LOS ANGELES -- The Oregon Ducks (22-4), with the help of two local players, stymied a comeback from the USC Trojans (21-5) to win 81-70 Saturday night. It was the Ducks' 14th consecutive win over the Trojans.

Looking to rebound after blowing a 19-point lead to UCLA and losing in its previous game, the Oregon Ducks almost wasted another double-digit lead in Los Angeles. Down by 10 with just under six minutes to play, USC cut the deficit to three when Bennie Boatwright sank a pair of free throws following Oregon's All-American candidate Dillon Brooks' fifth foul of the game with just over three minutes remaining.

Los Angles native, Tyler Dorsey, then took over the game for the Ducks by nailing two threes within a two-minute span. The first came as the shot clock ticked to zero after a controversial out of bounds call that kept possession with the visitors. USC's Elijah Stewart, who scored 15 for the Trojans, answered with a deep shot to cut it back to three. Oregon's other Southern California player, Jordan Bell, made a layup then USC called a timeout.

After an empty USC possession, the Ducks found Dorsey in transition, which he pulled up from deep and essentially put the Trojans away.

"When Dillon fouled out, we still had the confidence that we would find a way to win," said Dorsey. "We had a next-man-up mentality."

Both teams started this game off cold from the field. Oregon was 5 for 19 and USC was 3 for 15 with 10:36 left in the 1st half. Then the Ducks proceeded to make seven consecutive shots to give them the largest lead of the game, 26-15, at the 6 minute mark. However, the Trojans closed the half strong and trailed 35-33 at the break.

Both teams decided to push the tempo and run at the outset of the second half. Oregon struck first with a three by Brooks. The tide turned for USC when McLaughlin threw an incredible lob from half court to Stewart, who caught it, stuffed it, and threw the crowd into a frenzy. Back-to-back threes from Stewart and McLaughlin gave the Trojans a lead they would have for a short while.

Bell scored 10 points in the second half for the Ducks, doing what he can to prevent his team's first losing streak of the season as he finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

"It was very important to get a win," said Bell. "We took an 'L' against UCLA so we wanted to bounce back. We didn't want to leave with a two-game road trip loss."

Brooks led the Ducks in scoring with 21 points. Dorsey scored 19, including four makes from downtown. Oregon trails Arizona by one game in the race for the Pac-12 regular season title, they host Utah on Thursday.

Chimezie Metu led the way for the Trojans with 16 points, Boatwright and Stewart both chipped in with 15 each. USC is in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season. They go on the road for the next two games to play UCLA and Arizona, respectively.

Long Beach State Defeats Cal State Los Angeles in Season Opener

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The Long Beach State 49ers raced past the California State University, Los Angeles Golden Eagles for a 95-59 victory in their season opener Friday night in Long Beach. The 49ers are the favorites to win the Big West Conference and their display against the Eagles confirms the preseason selection.

Leading the way for The Beach was point guard Justin Bibbins, who filled the score sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Bibbins was a Second Team All-Conference selection a season ago.

"Justin is an elite player in this league," said Coach Dan Monson. "He can play with anybody in this country. We're going to give him an opportunity to go prove it."

Over the past seven seasons, Long Beach State has ranked no lower than sixth in the nation in non-conference strength of schedule, according to Ken Pomeroy's ratings. The 49ers will immediately go on the road to play four teams who played in the NCAA tournament last year; they have Wichita State, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 14 Louisville, and No. 20 UCLA.

"We needed some confidence to buy into what works," said Monson. "Now we're going to get tested. They need to know what it's like to be at that level. That's the level we want to be, at the end of the season. No matter what happens, we're going to come back a better basketball team at the end of this week and that's why we play this schedule."

Friday night was the first time the two schools played each other since the 1992 season. Cal State L.A. was essentially a tune up for Long Beach State. The up-tempo style employed by Monson's team made it hard for the Eagles to keep up with. The 49ers continued to pound the ball inside and attack the rim; Long Beach State dominated the Points in Paint category 52-18. 

Defensively, the 49ers applied pressure via the full-court press after made free throws and perimeter traps, which forced turnovers and resulted in easy transition points. Long Beach State led 51-38 at halftime and came out of the break turning up the pressure. One two-minute run of play featured Loyola Marymount transfer Evan Payne break away for three dunks to stretch the lead to 64-45 to put the game away. Payne was the game's high scorer with 15 points.

"I think [Payne] showed a level of comfort," said Monson. "He's been so locked-in to try to do what we ask of him defensively, he hasn't been comfortable on offense. Today he got out in the open court. He's as good as any player I have had in the open court."

The contributions from the visitors were minimal, aside from a crowd-pleasing dunk from Desean Scott in the first quarter of the game that provided the crowd in arena with much-needed energy, and ironically fueled a 49er's run to close out the first half.

The 49ers had two other players score in double figures, forwards Yussuf Temidayo and Gabe Levin, with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Overall, Monson utilized 14 players in this game, with 10 of them playing at least 10 minutes. Long Beach State is going to need all hands on deck to come back from this road trip with positive results.