COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Long Beach Earns a Spot in the Nick of Overtime

Their work done, they crowded around a TV and waited anxiously for proof.

Yes, Long Beach State realized it had earned the Big West Conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament with a 76-69 overtime victory Sunday over Nevada in the conference tournament title game before 3,017 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But when you have to fight for everything as Long Beach has, it’s nice to hear the words anyway.

Cheers rang out in the arena’s Si Redd Room as the 49ers (20-9), surrounded by family and friends, discovered they are seeded No. 13 in the tournament’s West Region. Long Beach will play fourth-seeded Utah (27-5) in the first round Friday at Boise, Ida.

“I am so proud of this team,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “A lot of people didn’t think we had a chance to win one game (in the Big West tournament), let alone the final game.

“I said we would be playing our best basketball in March. Well, March Madness is here.”

The Utes won the Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championship. They are led by forward Keith Van Horn, the regular-season and tournament most valuable player, and guard Brandon Jessie, a former standout at Huntington Beach Edison High and Ventura College.

“Keith Van Horn is as good as any offensive player in the country, and (Ute Coach) Rick Majerus is a terrific coach,” Greenberg said. “To go to the tournament is an accomplishment, but we want to advance. We can’t be satisfied just to play.”

Majerus said he will spend the next few days learning about the 49ers.

“We recruit some of the same players,” Majerus said. “I know (about 49er center) Joe McNaull, but other than that I don’t know too much about them.”

Long Beach is the lone Big West representative in the 64-team NCAA tournament field. The 49ers are making their second tournament appearance in three seasons under Greenberg and their seventh overall.

The 49ers lost to Illinois, 75-72, in the first round of the 1992-93 West Regional at Salt Lake City. Senior forwards Mike Atkinson and Terrance O’Kelley are the only 49ers left from that group.

“I can’t even put into words what this means for me,” said O’Kelley, who led the 49ers with 19 points in the championship game and was selected to the all-tournament team.

“It’s just an incredible feeling. It’s great.”

The 49ers and O’Kelley came dangerously close to feeling the opposite.

However, O’Kelley and reserve guard Eric Brown, who played well throughout the tournament, wouldn’t let the 49ers fold. O’Kelley made a turnaround jumper in the lane to force overtime, and Brown gave the 49ers the lead for good, 70-67, by making a three-point basket with 2:58 to play in overtime.

“I thought we had them,” said Nevada Coach Pat Foster, who was ejected with nine seconds left in overtime after being assessed a double technical for arguing with officials.

Guard Brian Green, who led Nevada (18-11) with 26 points, was the tournament’s most valuable player.

But high-scoring Wolf Pack forward Jimmy Moore and point guard Eathan O’Bryant struggled because of the defensive play of Juaquin Hawkins (10 points, three steals) and guard Rasul Salahuddin (13 points, six assists), who were recently voted the Big West’s best defenders in a poll of conference players.