Long Beach Ekes Out Win Over Weak UCI

Long Beach State continued to limp along, heading toward the Big West Conference tournament. UC Irvine maintained its downward spiral.

They intersected Thursday night and, at times, it was hard for the 2,701 in the Pyramid to tell which was which. In the end, though, it got sorted out.

The 49ers had a 66-63 victory. The Anteaters had a 12-game losing streak.

Still, it took a burst of energy from Ramel Lloyd to get Long Beach (11-13, 8-6) past a team that hasn’t won since Jan. 7. Lloyd scored five consecutive points to push the 49ers lead to 62-56 with 21 seconds left. They held on despite missing four of eight free throws in the last 20 seconds. It left Long Beach, picked to win the Big West Conference’s Western Division, with a slim hope of doing that. The 49ers are 1 1/2 games behind first-place UC Santa Barbara with three games left.

This might be good news for Coach Wayne Morgan, who is in the third year of a five-year contract. He was expected to produce this season. Whether 11-13 is considered to be production remains to be seen.

“If the Lakers lost Shaquille O’Neal for half the season and Kobe Bryant went down, they would have trouble too,” Morgan said.

The 49ers have had some nagging injuries, but it was Charles O’Neal they were missing. They waited half the season for him to get eligible and now may be without him the remainder of the season because of a hip injury.

Still, his replacement, freshman Ron Johnson, hurt the Anteaters repeatedly. He scored the 49ers’ first four points had 12 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs.

“What did Ron have, 32 points, 25 rebounds?” Morgan said, smiling.

It seemed like it at times. Of course, he also had seven turnovers and only one assist.

Lloyd, though, scored 20 points, 13 in the second half.

Like Long Beach, UCI was missing a guard. Gabe Cagwin is suspended for the rest of the season.

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At times the first half looked like a soccer match, with two teams running up and back and no one putting the ball in the net. Long Beach went eight minutes without a point. Irvine was scoreless for five of those minutes.

The 49ers were five of 17 at one point, before making six of their last 12 shots to take a 25-20 halftime lead. They led by as many as 11 in the second half, but Ben Jones and Marek Ondera brought Irvine back.

Jones made five of seven three-points and finished with 18 points. It followed an 28-point effort Saturday against Cal State Fullerton, Jones’ best back-to-back games in a disappointing season.

“You have to ask him what he’s doing different,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “I don’t have a little guy in his head to tell me. I sure wish he would have figured it out 20 games ago.”

Jones said he was playing with more confidence.

Ondera scored 15 points, 12 in the second half. His layup and free throw tied the score, 50-50 with 3:46 left. His 15-foot baseline jumper tied the score, 54-54, with 2:39 left.

After a Johnson free throw with 2:34 left, Irvine had a chance to take the lead, but guard Zamiro Bennem was called for traveling. Lloyd then went on his run to give Irvine its sixth conference loss by five or fewer points.