Long Beach Beats Fullerton, Sets Up Big West Showdown

Long Beach State stayed a step behind first-place UC Irvine in the Big West Conference basketball race Thursday night and now will be able to take direct aim at the Anteaters.

The 49ers shot 51%, forced 25 turnovers, and rallied behind guard James Cotton’s 27 points to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 73-56, before 1,384 in Titan Gym. It was Long Beach State’s third consecutive victory on the road.

The 49ers, 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference, face Irvine, 7-2 in the Big West, Saturday night in Irvine’s Bren Center.

Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg says he’s becoming accustomed to big games this season in a tight conference race.

“I come home and my wife says, ‘Nice win, honey.’ And I say, ‘That’s all right because we’ve got another big game tomorrow night,’ ” Greenberg said.

Cotton, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, was eight for 15 from the field, including three for five on three-point attempts, to come within three points of his career high, but Long Beach State’s defense also was a big factor.

Fullerton shot a season-low 27.3% from the field, and was scoreless from three-point range in 13 attempts. It was the first time Fullerton had failed to score from behind the arc in 106 games. The last time it happened was in a 76-47 loss at Nevada Las Vegas in the 1991-92 season.

“Their trap affected our ability to do anything,” said Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking. “We didn’t attack it with any success, but it’s hard to simulate their size and quickness with our scout team when we tried to practice against it. Going zero for 13 and those turnovers were the story of the game.”