After recovering from an inefficient first half, the Long Beach State 49ers scratched and clawed their way to a second half lead on the road only to watch it whither away thanks to missed opportunities and poor decision making in a hard fought 85-80 overtime loss at the hands of the Loyola Marymount Lions.

The 49ers trailed 41-33 at the break, but began the second half with a 12-2 run behind the energy of Casper Ware and the fearsome interior play of T.J. Robinson. Long Beach State held a slim lead through the second half until Loyola Marymount’s Larry Davis sent the game into overtime with a three-pointer over the outstretched hand of Robinson.

A last attempt to win in regulation produced a botched play and the game went to overtime.

Loyola Marymount took a slim lead in the extra session, but Long Beach had their chances.

Down by two points, sophomore guard Larry Anderson was sent to the free-throw line after being fouled as he dove for a loose ball in the frenetic, physical game. Anderson missed both free throws that would have tied the game with just over a minute to play.

Long Beach stopped the Lions on the next possession and Eugene Phelps snared the rebound, however the ball was deflected as Phelps attempted to pass down the court to a streaking teammate and LMU secured a new possession. The Lions scored again, which put the 49ers in a difficult four-point deficit from which they were unable to recover as LMU shot 5-6 from the free-throw line in overtime.

The score read 85-80 as the final buzzer sounded.

Long Beach State players and coaches were unavailable for comment following the game, as the 49ers were scheduled to take an 11:55pm flight from Los Angeles to prepare for their Wednesday morning game at Kentucky.

Sophomore forward T.J. Robinson led the way with 22 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, as Larry Anderson and Casper Ware each scored 16 and Eugene Phelps had a career-high 14. As a team, however, Long Beach State shot just 39.2% from the field.

For the Lions, forward Drew Viney overcame physical defense and tricky schemes from the 49ers to score a team-high 18 points on 8-18 shooting. Three other Lions scored in double figures and Loyola Marymount shot 45.7% from the field.

The 49ers fall to 6-5 on the season as Loyola Marymount improves to 6-7.

Photos by Andrew Veis.