Long Beach State Defeats UC Irvine, 78-71 : 49ers Get Fifth-Straight Victory and Trail Las Vegas by a Half Game

As expected, Cal State Long Beach will travel to Nevada Las Vegas for a run-in against the Runnin’ Rebels Thursday night. That is how the schedule has read for months.

But brace yourself for this little footnote:

When the 49ers do step onto the floor at Thomas and Mack Center, they will be playing for . . . first place .

Yes, Cal State Long Beach (10-8 overall), the designated kicking dog of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. in 1985 and ‘86, is 5-1 in the PCAA and one-half game behind Las Vegas after beating UC Irvine, 78-71, Monday night in the 49ers’ University Gym.

It Long Beach’s fifth straight victory. Consider what five PCAA wins mean to the 49ers. They represent the school’s longest winning streak since 1980 and equal Long Beach’s output in its first two seasons under Coach Ron Palmer. En route to back-to-back 10th-place finishes, the 49ers compiled records of 2-16 and 3-15.

Back then, it was brother-can-you-spare-a-dime for Palmer and his skimpy squad.

But now, listen to Palmer as he talks about the upcoming engagement in Tark’s Shark Tank.

Palmer is talking about winning.

“It’s conceivable, it’s conceivable,” he said. “We’d have to play phenomenal--and we’d have to play that way for 40 minutes, not 30. But we are a different ballclub this year.”

Irvine (9-8, 4-4) saw that first hand. The Anteaters had won their last eight meetings with Long Beach but fell behind by as many as 15 points in this one.

For awhile for Irvine, it was shades of UC Santa Barbara--where the Anteaters were outscored, 20-0, during one arid stretch in the second half Saturday. Again, the Irvine offense kicked into cruise control, getting outscored, 42-17, during a 15-minute span that began with 11:44 left in the first half.

That turned a 17-7 Anteater lead into a 49-34 Anteater deficit.

Irvine trailed by 15 with 11:14 to play and by 10 with 4:44 left. But a rally, centered around activity at the free-throw line, brought the Anteaters to within a point (70-69) with 1:32 to go.

Then, Irvine saw its hopes of victory sink with Long Beach guard Morlon Wiley’s desperation shot to barely beat the 45-second clock.

For the first 30 seconds of Long Beach’s possession, the 49ers floundered around the perimeter, passing the ball nervously without much of a plan. Finally, they got the ball to Wiley, who backed in on Brooks and, with one second left on the shot clock, swished an 19-foot jumper that floored Irvine.

“I never thought they’d get the shot off,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “That completely broke our backs.”

Said Brooks: “I was right in his face . . . and he just buried it. That just broke us.”

And what do the Anteaters think of these new and improved 49ers?

“They’re better than most people think,” said Brooks, who had 23 points but hit just 6 of 15 field-goal attempts. “Before the game, you kinda go in doubting them, but they have a lot of players who can score a lot of points. They’re now 5-1. That speaks for itself.”

From Mulligan: “They took our offense right out of it. They had us whipped, but then they didn’t score for a while and let us back into it.

“They’re good. Their players are more mature and they have more good players.”

Long Beach’s scoring was typically balanced. Wiley led the 49ers with 17 points, followed by Tony Ronzone with 14 and Rigo Moore with 12. Overall, the 49ers shot 49% from the field--62% in the second half.

Along with Brooks’ 23 points, the Anteaters also received 17 from Frank Woods and 13 from Wayne Engelstad.

Monday’s outcome left Mulligan pining for the good old days--way back in 1986.

“A couple years ago, we knew going into conference that we were assured six victories,” Mulligan said, knowing that two of them would come courtesy of Long Beach. “But now, there’s not a dog in the conference.

“Right now, Fresno is the weakest team in the conference . . . and that’s scary.”

Mulligan paused and considered his team’s second straight defeat.

“Or,” he added, “maybe we are.”