Tower Rises to Occasion, Leads CS Long Beach : College basketball: Center scores 24 points and grabs eight rebounds in 72-58 victory over CS Fullerton.

Chris Tower stands 6-foot-10, but for most of the senior center’s career at Cal State Long Beach he has been in the shadow of teammate Lucious Harris, the second-leading scorer in the Big West Conference.

However, Tower emerged to take the spotlight Thursday night, scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds as Long Beach defeated Cal State Fullerton, 72-58, before a sellout crowd of 1,987 in the 49ers’ campus gym.

Tower made eight of 13 field-goal attempts, including two of three three-point efforts, and six of seven free throws. But it was a little-recognized defensive switch he made in the second half on the player he was guarding--center Sean Williams--that helped the 49ers (13-2, 6-2) to their 20th consecutive victory in their gym.

“I took away his right hand,” said Tower of Williams, who scored 13 first-half points to keep the Titans (8-5, 3-3) in the game. “In the first half, I was guarding his left and the coach reminded me at halftime to play his right.”

Williams scored only two points in the second half, after making six of seven field-goal attempts in the first.

Harris has carried the 49ers on many a night. But since scoring 34 points in an 84-75 victory at Nevada on Jan. 14, he has faced tremendous defensive pressure. That has caused him to force shots and his scoring average has dropped from 25.1 points per game to 23.9. Harris was held to 14 points Thursday night on six-of-14 shooting. But he had seven rebounds from his off-guard spot and played 39 minutes.

“People have been guarding him so tight,” Tower said. “That opens it up for me to establish myself and our inside game.”

Fullerton’s Bruce Bowen, the conference’s third-leading scorer at 19.1, made only five of 11 field goals for 10 points. And with forward Bryon Russell (nine rebounds) and Tower dominating the backboards, Bowen finished with only two rebounds--5.5 below his average. Long Beach outrebounded the Titans, 34-27.

Fullerton Coach Brad Holland said the game was “one of our poorest efforts of the year.”

“I don’t know where Bowen was tonight,” he said. “I don’t know where our team was tonight.”

The score was tied, 24-24, with 3:10 to play in the first half. But Tower made the front end of a one-and-one as Long Beach regained the lead for good, 27-26, and the 49ers led at halftime, 32-28.

“We were just two passive against the zone in the first half,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We didn’t move our feet. We had no angle to the post. In the second half, we did a better job of feeding the post.”

A 13-6 run in the second half put the 49ers ahead, 57-42, with 9:06 left. During one stretch, the 49ers scored on 15 of 17 possessions.