The 49ers Run Down Anteaters : Wiley Scores 23 in Second Half of 98-90 Victory

As UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan saw it, his own guard, Mike Hess, was great but Cal State Long Beach’s Morlon Wiley was magnificent Sunday afternoon.

Wiley, who had a sizzling duel with Hess, took control of the game in the second half, scoring 23 of his 32 points as the 49ers beat the Anteaters, 98-90, in front of 2,537 at the Long Beach Arena.

The 49ers, who shot 75% from the field in the final 20 minutes, overcame a 44-33 halftime deficit to stay in fourth place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. They are 16-9 overall and 10-6 in the PCAA.

“Long Beach wore us out,” Mulligan said. “They came at us really hard and their press got to us. And Morlon Wiley was magnificent, an unbelievable basketball player.”

The 6-foot-4 Wiley and the 6-1 Hess, who had a career-high 21 points, pushed, shoved and talked to each other, but that was nothing new.

“He comes to the local gyms in the summer and sometimes we go at it,” Wiley, who also had 8 assists and 5 rebounds, said of Hess. “He thought by talking, he would get pumped up.”

Hess, who Mulligan called the “all-time over-achiever,” was indeed pumped. During one stretch in the second half, he scored 15 of 17 Irvine points. But at the same time Wiley was hitting three-point shots, making spin moves to elude Hess for jumpers in the lane and also lobbed the ball perfectly for a dunk by Rudy Harvey.

After Hess had made a three-pointer to tie the game at 62-62, Wiley came back with one with 9:25 to play to give the 49ers a permanent lead. The Anteaters (14-12, 9-8) then began to fade.

Hess said he expected the intensity between he and Wiley because, “It’s getting close to tournament time and this was a big game.”

” I’ve got a lot of respect for Wiley,” Hess added. He’s a ballplayer.”

The 49ers were clinging to a 72-68 lead with just over six minutes left when they got help from two unexpected sources.

Harvey, averaging 6 points a game, made two free throws and a jumper, and Jeff Eastin, averaging 4 points, hit two straight 18-footers as Long Beach went on an 8-3 spurt that put the game out of reach.

The Anteaters had things their way in the first half, despite only five points from high-scoring center Wayne Engelstad. They shot 54% from the field and made 19 of 22 free throws. Long Beach, meanwhile, shot only 43% in the first half and made 11 turnovers.

“We were doing too much thinking in the first half,” said Wiley, who was 4 for 10 from the field in the first 20 minutes and looked unlike the All-American candidate the 49ers claim he is.

Engelstad, who finished with 20 points, made the first basket of the second half, which seemed like a good sign that Irvine might be able to replace Long Beach in fourth place.

But Engelstad wasn’t a factor the rest of the way. He scored nine points in the last 1:20 but by then it was too late.

“They did a good job of getting us out of our offense, and our offense is getting it to Wayne,” said Hess.

Rigo Moore scored 14 points for the 49ers, who have won 16 games for the first time since the 1979-’80 season. Eastin scored 14 and DeAnthony Langston had 13.

Irvine, which made 26 turnovers in a 100-80 loss to Long Beach Jan. 28, made 23 Sunday against the harassing 49ers.

“Some of our guys are just not in shape,” Mulligan said.