Report by LBSU

Senior Greg Plater scored a game-high 30 points including 25 in the second half to lead the Gold squad to a 95-77 victory over the Black squad in the Long Beach State men’s basketball annual Black vs. Gold inter-squad scrimmage.

Sophomore Larry Anderson scored 26 points and Eugene Phelps added 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Gold while TJ Robinson poured in 27 points to lead the Black. Sophomore Casper Ware had 24 points and seven steals for the Black.

“I was excited by the way our guys played today,” Head Coach Dan Monson said. “Everything we tried to work on this week in practice was implemented by our guys in the scrimmage.

“So that was encouraging.”

Monson was especially pleased with the play of senior guard Plater who led the Gold rout in the second half. The Gold shot a scorching 74 percent in the second half making 20 of 27 shots in the half.

“He has a killer mindset,” Monson said. “He really wants to increase his roll on the team and has worked really hard this summer to achieve that. He had only five points at halftime and I told him to relax and to get his shots in rhythm and he really lit it up in the second half.”

Heading into Dan Monson’s third season at the helm of the Long Beach State 49ers expectations have changed. The one and only goal for the team is a Big West Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Those lofty expectations come just two years after Monson led a depleted LBSU roster to just six wins in his initial season at the school. Two solid recruiting classes and one 15-15 season later with a second-place finish in league play, Monson and the team feel like the Big West title is theirs to lose.

The path to a Big West championship will be a tough one. Before heading into a league action in what should be a much improved Big West Conference, The Beach has to navigate what may be the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. After hosting Alaska Anchorage in its home opener, LBSU hits the road for seven straight games, and 12 of its next 14, away from its home court at the Walter Pyramid. If that is challenging enough, the 49ers will face what figures to be a murders row of ranked teams with road games at Notre Dame, Texas, Kentucky and Duke and neutral site games against West Virginia and two other members of the 76 Classic field.

Monson feels like he has a team that can handle the challenging schedule in November and December and use the experience to be ready for league play. Monson’s team returns four starters, including three who started as true freshmen in 2008-09.

Sophomore Larry Anderson leads the group boasting what may be the best all-around game in the Big West. The 6-foot-5 guard became the first freshman to earn first-team All-Big West honors in 35 years after averaging 10.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists while making 54.6 percent of his field goal attempts.

Anderson will be joined by returning starters T.J. Robinson, Casper Ware and Stephan Gilling. Robinson and Ware were both numbers of the 2008-09 Big West Conference All-Freshman Team, while Gilling was an honorable mention all-league pick.

Robinson is the team’s leading returning scorer and rebounder after averaging 11.4 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds as a true freshman. Ware led the 49ers with 122 assists, a LBSU freshman record, while Gilling made the second-most 3-pointers (83) in school history.

The four returning starters should once again start for The Beach, the question is who will surface as the fifth starter. Three players, sophomores Eugene Phelps and Lin Chang, and senior Andrew Fleming will battle for the starting center position. Phelps brings a blend of athleticism and strength to the table, Fleming is a bruising 7-foot, 290-pound, mass of human flesh, and Chang has the unique ability to step outside at 6-foot-9 and knock down shots. All three should see time in the lineup which will give Monson the ability to play different styles.

Senior Arturas Lazdauskas, junior Greg Plater, sophomore Jesse Woodard all have experience at the Division I level and will add depth to a deep Long Beach State team. Freshmen Kyle Richardson, Jules Montgomery, Mike Vantrimpont and Jerramy King will also battle for time on the court.