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65-60 Pacific
FINAL SCORE
A Donovan Morris three-pointer looked good. It really did.
But it wasn’t.
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61-60 Pacific
0:15.7 remaining
Willard misses both. But Ware travels on the other end. Somehow, Pacific turns the ball over just seconds later and Robinson lays the ball in.
Madness.
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61-58 Pacific
0:31.5 remaining
Another Pacific turnover. Ware converts the lay-in, and the 49ers foul Michael Kirby. It’s absolutely explosive in here, but he hits both free throws anyway.
Anderson then misses a three, and Cornel Williams misses the putback. The 49ers foul and Sam Willard goes to the line.
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59-56 Pacific
0:48 remaining
Long Beach forces a turnover with the press, and Robinson is fouled on his lay-in attempt. He hits both.
The 49ers pressure the inbounds pass again, Pacific nearly gets called for a five-count again, and we have a timeout again.
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59-54 Pacific
1:06 remaining
Ware finds Anderson on a rare fast break for a two-handed jam, but Troyer… well, you know the rest.
Troyer is now 6-9 from three and leads the game with 22 points. Robinson hits two free-throws, and leads the 49ers with 17. Long Beach pressed the inbounds pass and the crowd wanted a five-second call, but Pacific is awarded the timeout instead.
Long Beach State timeout.
Telling Stat
Pacific: 11-20 3FG
Long Beach: 4-18 3FG
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49-44 Pacific
4:00 remaining
The absolute worst thing you can do against a zone defense is stand still. Yet, that is exactly what Long Beach has been content to do for the past five minutes. On the last possession, the 49ers passed the ball around the perimeter without any penetration before Donovan Morris launched a desperation three with the shot clock winding down. They played directly into Pacific’s hands. The Tigers will win easily if Long Beach can’t get into the lane.
Finally, Larry Anderson finds a seam for a baseline jumper. Pacific counters, though, with a three from Michael Kirby. The Tigers’ shooters have been impressively proficient.
Speak of the Devil: Troyer hits yet another three-pointer.
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41-38 Pacific
8:00 remaining
Long Beach is really, really having trouble cracking the outer shell of Pacific’s zone defense. That may have a lot to do with the one-dimensionality of Steph Gilling, who is always (and only) looking for the three-point shot, despite a currently abysmal shooting percentage.
Pacific is very quick to set up the defense; Ware can’t even race down the court before five Tigers are there to stop him. Pacific is putting on an absolute defensive clinic.
Morris comes in for Gilling, hopefully to look for his signature mid-range fadaway and get some movement going in the lane.
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41-37 Pacific
12:00 remaining
Long Beach sliced into the Tigers’ lead to tie the game at 36, then switched to a 3-2 zone. It worked for 35 seconds, when Troyer missed a three. Unfortunately, Pacific’s Terrell Smith grabbed the rebound, scored the lay-in, and was fouled. Then the 49ers are called for a shot clock violation, despite the ball clearly glancing off the rim. The buzzer continued to sound while the officials discussed the call. Yay Big West!
Long Beach is sticking with the zone and it led to another missed Pacific jumper. Ware finds Larry Anderson streaking down the sideline, and he’s fouled attacking the basket. We now pause for a TV timeout.
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35-30 Pacific
18:30 remaining
Pacific’s Troyer starts the second half with a long three, countered by a missed Stephan Gilling three. Pretty much, exactly the way the first half went.
Chad Troyer is currently 4-6 from three-point range.
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29-26, Pacific
HALFTIME
Long Beach plays pretty good defense to prevent Pacific from getting a quality shot at the buzzer. The story of the game so far has been Pacific’s outside shooting. Fifteen of their 29 points came from downtown. If the 49ers don’t figure out an answer quickly, their season will end in Anaheim tonight.
T.J. Robinson leads the game with eight points, while Donovan Morris added seven. Chad Troyer and Anthony Brown both scored six for the Tigers.
Pacific outshot Long Beach, 45.5% to 43.5%, but the Tigers are shooting just 5-12 from two-point range, while the 49ers are 9-14. Or maybe I’m just searching for silver lining.
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26-22, Pacific
1:30, 1st half
Pacific’s shooters have cooled down a bit, but Long Beach is still having trouble switching on defensive assignments and out to the perimeter quickly. On offense, most of the 49ers jumpers are short – signifyinglack of lift.
Telling Stat
Pacific: 4-9 3FG
Long Beach: 1-8 3FG
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22-19, Pacific
4:30 – 1st Half
Casper Ware re-enters and Pacific goes back to the 3-2, which must serve exclusively to thwart Ware‘s penetration, as the Tigers use 6’6″ Joe Ford on the point position. It’s been effective thus far, but Long Beach is still managing to find seams. Ware cuts and draws three defenders before dumping it off to Robinson, who is fouled and hits one of two free-throws. Ware then pushes in transition and beats the Pacific defense, hitting his signature floater in the lane.
On the other end, though, Pacific has started to attack Long Beach’s interior defense and is reaping the reward with one layup after another.
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18-11, Pacific
9:00 – 1st Half
Pacific hits back-to-back threes to take a seven-point lead. Long Beach has played solid defense but hasn’t effectively extended out to Pacific’s shooters, and they’re having a field day. Pacific is currently 4-6 from downtown.
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12-9, Pacific
11:56 – 1st Half
Pacific’s defense is causing trouble for the 49ers. It’s a 3-2, presumably to disrupt outside jumpers, but molds into a 2-1-2 when the ball goes inside. Whatever the case, it’s effective.
Maurice Clady comes in for Ware to give the offense a new face, and Pacific switches to man. The ‘Niners were effective at cutting and penetrating at first but have begun to resort to passing around the perimeter, even while Pacific’s main inside presence (Brown) remains on the bench. There’s a timout on the floor and Long Beach may have missed their chance to attack the basket without repercussion.
Telling Stat So Far
Pacific: 2-3 3FG
Long Beach: 0-4 3FG
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10-9, Pacific
14:19 – 1st half
Morris heads to the bench as Larry Anderson enters the game with a new haircut. Pacific has switched to a 2-3 zone and Arturas Lazdauskas immediately throws the ball away. On other end, Robinson bothers Brown into a turnover, then scores with his signature lefty lay-in.
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10-7, Pacific
15:48 – 1st half
Pacific’s Michael Kirby nails another three and the 49ers are again struggling to prevent open jump shots. Brian Freeman has already gone to the bench with two fouls.
T.J. Robinson provides light with a lay-in down low.
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5-5
17:30 – 1st half
Pacific’s Chad Troyer nails a long three (a definite 49er weakness) to go up 5-0, but Donovan Morris hits a fadaway and is fouled for the three-point play. It was vital that Morris get going early, and that bucket may be exactly what he needed. He then puts in a lay-up to tie the game thanks to inspired 49er defense.
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2-0, Pacific
19:20 – 1st half
Pacific strikes first with a jump-hook from Brown over Robinson. The 49ers doubled his touches but he found room on the baseline.
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Starting lineups are being announced, and it’s infitinely more packed now than it was for the previous game. In fact, you might even call it raucous.
UPDATE: Donovan Morris is starting ahead of Larry Anderson. It’s Morris’ first start since January 29th in a home loss to Fullerton.
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Your starters will be T.J. Robinson, Larry Anderson, Casper Ware, Brian Freeman and Stephan Gilling. Pacific will counter with Chad Troyer, Michael Kirby, Anthony Brown, Sam Willard and Joe Ford.
Three minutes to tip-off.
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Remember when I just said that Northridge has “New Fans?” Those fans just displayed perhaps the worst Rushing of the Court that I’ve ever seen, with about twenty students haphazardly bumping into each other on the court. They just rushed the court. For a semifinal victory.
Reporter next to me: “Well, now they’re gonna lose tomorrow.”
Northridge wins and will play in the finals tomorrow night.
Long Beach andf Pacific are warming up now. Morris’ foot looks like it’s not bothering him; Pacific looks focused.
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Morris played only once against Pacific this season, scoring 14 on 4-8 shooting. Will that effect his familiarity with their defense, or their familiarity with having him in the lineup? We’ll keep an eye on it.
The 49ers’ three excellent freshman all had great success against the Tigers, combining to average 39.5 points in the two games. T.J. Robinson led the way with averages of 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds.
UPDATE: Northridge is up 67-60 with 0:22 left.
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What are your keys for tonight’s game? I’m gonna say:
1. Donovan Morris’ shooting efficiency
2. Pacific’s three-point shooting
3. Defensive energy on both sides
I know that third one is kind of a cop-out, since defense is important in every game. But these teams are similar in that they depend on a well-rounded scoring attack, and are not dependent on one or two players (Pacific a little moreso, but Long Beach probably has more weapons and can afford a poor shooting night from one or two of them).
So they defensive intensity will be key. Either team can survive a cold shooting night from one of its players, but if one defense steps up and controls this game, that team has an invaluable advantage. Pacific held its opponents to 43% shooting this season, but Long Beach averaged 50.5% in their two victories over the Tigers (who countered with just 46.1%). Long Beach also outrebounded Pacific by an average of 7.0 per game, though I would expect tonight’s game to be near even in that category.
UPDATE: Northridge has opened it up to a 10-point lead with 2:00 to go. The Gauchos may have run out of gas.
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Just for fun, I’d like to point out that I’m sitting in the same seat that J.J. and I were in three years ago, when Aaron Nixon hit a fading buzzer-beater to defeat Irvine in the Big West semifinals. The Irvine students were directly behind us and threw their pom-poms at us while we cheered.
It spawned the legendary J.J. line: “Cheap plastic never felt so good.”
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For your viewing pleasure, the work of Mr. Russell Conroy.
Northridge currently holds a 52-45 lead with 6:45 to go.
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Off-beat clapping, “airball”chants that last a little too long, awkward moments of long silence: these are all signs of what we call “New Fans.” Welcome to the Big West Tournament, Cal State Northridge students.
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It looked like Northridge would be in control in the first half as they raced out to a nine-point lead, but Santa Barbara is nothing if not methodical, and they chipped away until we were all tied at half. Their 2-3 zone can be downright stifling, and they’re preventing Northridge from running and spreading the floor. A Gaucho three just made the score 44-42 Northridge, eleven minutes left.
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Check this out: Long Beach State fans are already filling the front-row seats that are empty thanks to a lack of UCSB fans (directly behind me), but Security is making them move. Ha! We wouldn’t want to fill empty seats, now would we.
49er fans are literally beginning the overtake the UCSB section, and the game they came for hasn’t even started yet. It’s gonna get rowdy in here.
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What’s up friends! Welcome to your front row seat to tonight’s action. Northridge and Santa Barbara are currently slugging it out, with the Matadors clinging to a 41-37 lead with fifteen minutes left in the game.
We’ll be bringing you live updates of all the action on the court from this game and, of course, the Long Beach State/Pacific game that’s set to start at 7:30.
Shout out to the anonymous guy who just told me to “Keep up the good work.” Yes sir.
In the meantime, please feel free to let us know what you’re thinking about tonight’s action: what you’re excited about, what you’re worried about, what you’d like to know. We’ll do our best to bring it to you. Did I mention we’re live?
Have at it in the Comments section below.
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Hey fans! The Big West Tournament has already begun shaping up to be a classic, and tonight we’ve got two great games on our hands. Northridge takes on UC Santa Barbara at 5:30pm, followed by Pacific at Long Beach State at 7:30pm.
And there’s no better place to get live, up-to-the-minute updates than right here at LBPOSTSports.com.
We’ll be giving you a front row pass, blogging both games live and bringing the details you crave. Feel free to join in the madness in the Comments section below!