LONG BEACH,
CALIF.--The Long Beach State men's basketball team began the regular season
at The Pyramid Saturday afternoon, but it was Cal State Northridge who
made themselves at home, beating the 49ers, 83-65, in the season opener
for both teams.
Jeffrey
Parris tallied 18 points to lead the Matadors (1-0), and three other CSN
players scored in double figures. Hewitt Rolle and Greg Minor both had
13 points and four rebounds, while Markus Carr added 11 points with four
assists off the bench.
Long
Beach (0-1) was led by a pair of JC transfers, Mate Milisa and Richie Smalls.
Each had 16 points, while Milisa had nine rebounds, Smalls seven.
The
49ers held an early 11-6 lead in the first five minutes of the game, but
the Matadors went on a 19-6 run to stake themselves to a 25-17 advantage
at the 9:51 mark of the first half. Parris had nine points in the first
half, as CSN shot .625 (15-24) from the field. Twelve of CSUN's 15 first
half baskets were within five feet of the basket, including several fastbreak
layups.
Long
Beach made a run to start the second half, pulling to within 46-44 at the
16:53 mark on a slam dunk by D'Cean Bryant. Bryant, however, was called
for a technical foul for taunting after the dunk, and Rico Harris made
both free throws for CSN, and the Matadors never looked back.
"The
technical on D'Cean was obviously the turning point in the game, without
question," said 49er head coach Wayne Morgan, who is now 2-1 in season-opening
games at Long Beach. "I don't know what he was thinking, but I guarantee
it will never happen again."
Northridge
used a 17-3 run midway through the second half to break the game open,
leading by as many as 21 (79-58) with 2:29 remaining.
Ramel
Lloyd scored 15 points for Long Beach, despite being hampered by foul trouble
most of the game. Tommie Davis added 11 points and had four assists, but
the 49ers got just one point from its bench, compared to 37 points for
the Matadors' reserves.
Long
Beach will next be in action at Loyola Marymount Tuesday night, tipping
off at 7 pm. The 49ers' next home game is next Saturday, November 21, hosting
Pepperdine at 7 pm in The Pyramid.
