February 5, 1999
Uptown after downtown shot
Basketball: O'Neal's 3-pointer puts 49ers back in Big West race.
By Gordon Verrell
Staff writer Long Beach Press Telegram
Charles O'Neal said he felt like "I was in heaven somewhere" after his long 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left in the game Thursday night capped a furious comeback that enabled Long Beach State to edge UC Santa Barbara, 63-62, before a roaring Pyramid crowd of 2,853.
Which is a little better than where the 49ers might have been today had O'Neal's 20-footer hit something other than all net.
The 49ers are smack in the middle of the Big West Conference Western Division scramble again following two defeats. They're just one-half game behind division co-leaders UCSB and Pacific.
"We've talked about that," Coach Wayne Morgan said after what was easily the 49ers' most dramatic win of the season. "We knew if we'd win two games this weekend we'd be right there."
Getting No. 1 seemed completely out of reach once UCSB (8-11 overall, 6-3 in the Big West) had opened an eight-point lead with 2:22 remaining.
"We called a timeout, and everyone was saying not to give up, to play as hard as we can," said the 49ers' D'Cean Bryant, who connected on three 3-point baskets, all in the second half, one with 56 seconds left that got the 49ers to within three, 61-58.
With 28.5 seconds left, the Gauchos' Brandon Payton was called for traveling. The 49ers, instead of going for a 3-pointer to tie, went to Mate Milisa, on a pass from O'Neal, and he scored to cut the deficit to one, 61-60.
Payton, an 81 percent free-throw shooter, had two opportunities to widen the lead, but made just one of three free throws. With 8.8 seconds left, Payton missed the second of a one-and-one, Richie Smalls grabbed his 10th rebound of the night and got the ball to O'Neal.
"I was surprised I was as open as I was," said O'Neal, apparently not seeing Payton's hand smack in his face. "I just went for it."
O'Neal fired, and the 49ers celebrated.
"They did a good job, they hit a lot of big shots, we didn't," said Bob Williams, first-year coach of the Gauchos. "We didn't make some free throws at the end, we had that big turnover ... we just made too many mistakes."
The win was the 49ers' 10th in a row over UCSB and improved their overall record to 9-11, 6-4 in Big West play.
The 49ers started extremely well, opening a seven-point lead a little more than three minutes into the game. They led by nine with 5:19 left in the first half, but UCSB closed to within two at the half, 30-28. The Gauchos took the lead for the first time with a 7-0 start to the second half. The second of Bryant's three 3-pointers gave the 49ers a 47-45 lead with 8:38 remaining, then the Gauchos took charge. They were on top by one, 54-53, when they went on a 7-0 splurge, seemingly putting the game away.
Then the 49ers came back, outscoring UCSB, 10-1, in the final two minutes.
Milisa led the 49ers with 17 points, and Bryant had 13. Leading scorer Rock Lloyd was held to just eight points, missing eight of 11 field goals.
"That was huge, us playing that well when Rock is not having a good night," Morgan said.
B.J. Bunton scored 20 to lead UCSB, but Derrick Allen, who was the Big West player of the week last week after scoring 20 points against UC Irvine, was held scoreless.
The 49ers were out-rebounded again, 40-35, but still managed to win, only the fifth time in 15 games they've won a game while being out-rebounded.