A Fresh Crop May Produce in Time

Some things were quickly apparent in Long Beach State’s 53-51 victory over Florida A&M; in the 49ers’ season opener on Saturday:

- There is talent;

- there will be mistakes;

- program sales will be high at the Pyramid.

Who are these guys?

Second-year Coach Wayne Morgan has mended some fences with the local populace, cleaned house and recruited.

Seriously recruited, which means that freshmen abound at Long Beach, with as many as three on the floor at any one time, two starting.

“I think these guys in time will be very special,” Morgan said.

The key is “in time,” because three of the 49ers were starting their first college game on Saturday. The veteran, forward D’Cean Bryant, was starting his sixth, and Quincy Nuckles, the lone other returning player, his second.

And one thing was not apparent in that first win: The 49ers you see are not exactly the 49ers you will get, once the Big West portion of the schedule begins in January.

That’s because center Andrew Betts, at 7 feet 1 the tallest player ever at Long Beach State, will not be eligible until Dec. 23. A transfer from C.W. Post who grew up in England, Betts is a senior who will not be around long, but is expected to have an immediate impact.

“He is our best front-line player,” Morgan said.

Until Betts is available, Morgan had planned to mount a waiting game with 6-10 freshman Ian Milley, but that was foiled midway through the first half Saturday when he broke the ring finger on his left hand on the bottom of the rim while going for a rebound.

With Milley out, Long Beach State went small, with 6-8 freshman Grant Stone--”a very smart player,” Morgan said--moving into the middle and Antrone Lee, a 6-7 transfer from Florida, moving from point guard to forward.

Stone had with 13 points and nine rebounds, five on the offensive end, and ranged out to shoot a three-point basket, which is going to confound a few opposing centers.

Whenever possible, Lee--who played 26 games as a freshman at Florida before transferring and sitting out last season--will play the point.

“He is our catalyst,” Morgan said. “He moves the other players better.”

When Lee moves up front to join Bryant and Stone, David Egans moves to the point. Egans played only one season at the position at Inglewood High and is more comfortable at the off guard, but he can distribute the basketball.

Another freshman, walk-on Ardis Curtis from Bellflower, is a point guard who sparked an exhibition win over the Next Level All-Stars.

Morgan came to Long Beach State after 14 seasons as an assistant at Syracuse, and he wants his players to emulate the Orangemen’s running game. He would also like to use a lot of pressure defense.

Both require a lot of players.

“I think we can play about 10-deep,” he said, which means freshman Marcus Gradney and junior college transfers Jared Frey and Jermel Bradley will see a lot of playing time.

Morgan counsels patience. “We will go through some growing pains,” he said, and a lot of those pains will be felt on the road. Long Beach State travels to Kansas State for a Saturday game that will expose the young 49ers to a large, unfriendly crowd, and the 49ers will travel across six time zones on their “Tropic Tour” of tournaments at Florida International and Hawaii.

LONG BEACH STATE AT A GLANCE

SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT, TIME

Nov. 15: Florida A&M;, W 53-51

Nov. 22: at Kansas State, 5 p.m.

Nov. 25: Norfolk State, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 29: * vs. Brown, 10 a.m.

Nov. 30: * vs. Lafayette/Fla. Int, TBA

Dec. 6: ** vs. Southern Illinois, Midnight

Dec. 7: ** vs. Tulane or Hawaii, TBA

Dec. 20: St. Francis, N.Y., 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 23: San Diego State, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 27: USC, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 30: Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 3: at Wyoming, 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 8: at Nevada, 7:35 p.m.

Jan. 10: at Utah State, 6:05 p.m.

Jan. 15: New Mexico State, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 17: North Texas, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 22: Cal State Fullerton, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 24: UC Irvine, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 29: at Boise State, 6:35 p.m.

Jan. 31: Pacific, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 5: at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 7 p.m.

Feb. 7: at UC Santa Barbara, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 12: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 14: UC Santa Barbara, 2 p.m.

Feb. 19: at UC Irvine, 7 p.m.

Feb. 21: at Cal State Fullerton, 7 p.m.

Feb. 26: Idaho, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 28: at Pacific, 7 p.m.

March 6-8: Big West Tournament

* Forida International Golden Panther Thanksgiving Tournament

** Hawaii Invitational Tournament

ROSTER

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 3 Antrone Lee F 6-7 195 So. 4 D’Cean Bryant F 6-6 215 Jr. 5 Quincy Nuckles G 6-3 200 Sr. 10 Ardis Curtis G 5-10 170 Fr. 14 Marcus Gradney F 6-7 200 Fr. 15 Grant Stone F 6-8 220 Fr. 20 Jermel Bradley G 6-4 205 Jr. 21 David Egans G 6-4 175 Fr. 32 Derek Emery C 6-10 200 Fr. 34 Jared Frey F 6-5 215 Jr. 41 Clayton Flemister G 6-4 205 Sr. 50 Ian Milley C 6-10 230 Fr. 51 Andrew Betts C 7-1 250 Sr.

*--*

RETURNING LEADERS

Scoring: D’Cean Bryant, 3.0 ppg

Rebounds: Bryant, 2.8

Assists: Bryant, 0.7

Blocks: Bryant, 0.4

Steals: Bryant, 0.6

FG%: Bryant, 40.8

FT%: Quincy Nuckles, 80