Jan. 8, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Pacific dropped a 74-64 decision to Long Beach State, 74-64, on Thursday, January 8.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big West Conference, while Long Beach State moved to 8-7 on the season and 3-0 in conference play.

The 49ers took an early 11-7 lead, but a quick 5-0 run by the Tigers capped on a layup by senior Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) made it a 12-11 score in favor of Pacific with 15:15 left in the first half. After Long Beach State struck back to take a 16-14 advantage, Pacific answered with a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 24-18 with back-to-back three-pointers from seniors Michael Kirby (North Highlands, Calif.) and Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) to end the run. The 49ers then outscored the Tigers with a 7-0 run to retake the lead at 27-26 with 6:31 remaining. After the third tie of the half at 32-32, Kirby and LeDuc struck again. Kirby hit a three-pointer and LeDuc hit a pair of free throws as the Tigers finished the first half with a 37-32 lead.

A fast 11-4 start to the second half gave the 49ers a 43-41 lead, as Donovan Morris scored eight of his 14 points in the run. The Tigers came back with another 6-0 run, taking a 47-43 lead with 15:56 left in the game after a layup by sophomore Sam Willard (Pierre, S.D.). That was the last lead of the game for Pacific, as the 49ers used a 6-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 50-47 lead with 13:11 left and would not trail again. After a pair of free throws by Brown with 9:40 left, Pacific scored just six points over the next eight minutes as the 49ers pulled away by stretching the lead to 10 (67-57) with 1:40 left.

Long Beach State outscored the Tigers in bench points 17-4 in the second half, and shot 57.7 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. The Tigers shot a season-low 32.1 percent in the second half, and were outscored 42-27 in the second period by the 49ers.

Senior Chad Troyer (Seattle, Wash.) led the Tigers with 15 points. Kirby equaled his career high with 14 points, while Brown and Willard each scored 11 points.

Stephan Gilling had a game-high 19 points for Long Beach State.

The Tigers are next in action on Saturday, January 10 with a home game against UC Riverside. The tip is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Alex G. Spanos Center.