Report by LBSU
T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware combined to score 42 points to lead Long Beach State to a 77-66 non-conference win over Idaho Saturday night at the Cowan Spectrum.
Robinson paced LBSU (13-14) with 22 points and 15 rebounds. It was Robinson’s 16th double-double of the season and the 21st of his career. The sophomore made 11-of-17 shots and had seven offensive rebounds.
Ware added 20 points and four assists, while not committing a turnover. The sophomore point guard also had four boards and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Junior Greg Plater chipped in 12 points, while sophomore Larry Anderson had 10 points and career-high three blocks. Senior Arturas Lazdauskas, making just his second start of the season, had a season-high eight points and a career-tying high four steals in 32 minutes before fouling out.
“This was an opportunity for us to come together as a team,” head coach Dan Monson said. “I thought our attitude toward a common goal of winning was what pleased me the most. I thought it was a good team win. It wasn’t perfect but from the attitude and effort that we had on Wednesday it was certainly a step in the right direction.”
Long Beach State finished the game making 46.4 percent (26-of-56) shots, while holding Idaho (13-13) to just 40.7 percent (24-of-59) shooting from the floor. The Beach also canned 81.8 percent (18-of-22) of its free throws, a big improvement over the 62.5 percent effort the 49ers had going into the game. LBSU also committed just 11 turnovers, while forcing the Vandals to commit 16 turnovers. The 49ers outscored Idaho 21-12 off turnovers.
Long Beach State built a 14-point halftime lead thanks to solid defense. The Beach held the Vandals to 37.5 percent shooting from the floor and 0-of-4 shooting from 3-point range.
LBSU built the lead going on a 19-5 run over the last nine minutes of the first half. The 49ers started the run with a 12-2 spurt that pushed their lead to 28-18. The Beach made 43.3 percent of its shots in the first half, but was nearly as good from 3-point range making 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) threes.
Robinson led the 49ers before the break with 10 points and seven boards. Plater added nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from three. LBSU committed just five turnovers in the first half and held UI to just four offensive boards.
LBSU pushed the lead to as many as 17 in the second half and Idaho could never get closer than eight after halftime.