February 14, 1999
49ers lose momentum, lead - and the game
Basketball: Textbook first half dissolves into a tough Big West loss.
By Gordon Verrell
Staff writer Long Beach Press Telegram
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Long Beach State's 49ers shot a blistering 70 percent, they made more 3-pointers than in their previous two games combined, they were perfect from the free-throw line . . . all in all, a pretty dominating performance.
Then they played the second half.
Zonk!
That's when it all came apart for the 49ers. They came out a completely different team in the second half - and so did Cal Poly, which stormed from behind to claim an 87-79 Big West Conference basketball victory before a Mott Gym turnout of 2,621.
The loss was the 49ers' second in a row and fourth in their last six games to fall to 10-13 overall and 7-6 in the Big West. They need to win their last three games for a crack at finishing .500 for the first time in Coach Wayne Morgan's three years at the helm. And they're no longer a lock to even make the field for the post-season tournament.
"We can't look at that," said Ramel "Rock" Lloyd, when asked about the long-range picture. "We've just got to take it one game at a time."
One half at a time will do.
The 49ers played a solid first half, leading by 13 barely five minutes into the game, and they were still on top by 13, 46-33, with 3:33 left in the half, the result of a 13-2 run after the Mustangs had climbed to within two.
But, at the break, the 49ers' lead was just seven, 50-43, and Jeff Schneider, the Mustangs' coach, had an inkling right then he was in pretty good shape.
"They shot 70 percent," he said of the 49ers' sizzling 21-for-30, "and 75 percent on 3-pointers (six of eight). That usually means you're up by 20 . . . and we had a chance to be down by 20. We were in the best situation we could be."
It wasn't until more than 12 minutes of the second half had elapsed before Cal Poly (10-13, 5-7) got its first lead, on a 3-point basket by Mike Wozniak, and never trailed again. In another 3 1/2 minutes the Mustangs' lead was 10.
"We hit a dead spot in the second half against their zone," Morgan said, noting the 49ers labored for more than seven minutes with just one field goal. "They made tough shots down the stretch that turned the game."
Jabbar Washington made most of them. Held scoreless in the first half, Washington connected on four 3-pointers, each longer than the last it seemed, and finished with 17 points.
The 49ers were without starting point guard Charles O'Neal, who was a late scratch because of his nagging hip pointer. Freshman Ron Johnson learned he was in the starting lineup less than a minute before the start of the game.
It didn't seem to matter in the early going, when the 49ers whistled home shot after shot. It did matter later on.
As Lloyd pointed out, "Early in the game we shot them out of their zone, then we got cold."
The 49ers managed to make only 10 of 33 shots in the second half, a mere 30 percent, playing far more tentative in the final 20 minutes. Meantime, Cal Poly came back to shoot at 61 percent.
Freshman guard Jason King, subbing for the injured Ben Larson, scored 15 points for Cal Poly, Jeremiah Mayes had 16 and Wozniak 13, all but three in the second half.
Lloyd scored 19 to lead the 49ers, D'Cean Bryant had 16, Mate Milisa 14 and Johnson 10, his career high.