University of California, Riverside
Long Beach State
Highlanders Fall to Long Beach State, 91-75
3/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The host UC Riverside Highlanders made a game of it, but the visiting Long Beach State 49ers prevailed 91-75 in a Big West game in front of 1,043 fans at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside Saturday.
UCR is now 7-23 overall and 1-13 in the Big West, while conference champion Long Beach State is 22-7, 12-2.
Junior guard Larry Cunningham led four Highlanders in double-figures with 18 points. Sophomore guard Chris Johnson had 15 points, freshman forward Henrik Thomsen had 14 points and senior guard Justin Bell had 13 points and five assists in his final home appearance at UCR. Fellow senior guard Dedrick Bates had a career-high 12 rebounds to go with seven points. UCR shot 42.0% (29-of-69) from the field and 36.7% (11-of-30) from the three point line
Long Beach State got a game-high 23 points from Sterling Byrd and Aaron Nixon added 18, Kejuan Johnson 16 and Kevin Houston 15. The 49ers shot 56.5% (35-of-62) from the field and 47.8% (11-of-23) from the three point line.
The 49ers led 44-40 at halftime behind 11 points each from Byrd and Johnson as they shot 51.4% (18-of-35) from the field. UCR had a balanced attack with nine points by Thomsen and eight each by Cunningham and Johnson. Bates led the Highlanders on the boards with eight boards at the intermission. UCR shot 39.5% (15-of-38) from the field.
Though the 49ers outsized the Highlanders, the half featured 10 lead changes. LBSU led 42-34 for their biggest lead of the half, but UCR chipped it down to four at the intermission at 44-40.
The second half saw the 49ers gradually draw away, building the margin to a high of 21 at 89-68 with 1:30 remaining, before finishing at 16, 91-75.
