Long Beach State Plays Well Enough to Defeat UCI

This was a chance for Long Beach State to groom itself for the Big West Conference tournament. A little fodder, in the form of UC Irvine, came to the Pyramid to give the 49ers a workout Saturday.

When it was done, Long Beach had an 82-65 victory in front of 4,126, the 49ers’ 18th victory in the last 19 games. But the talk afterward was laced with concern.

“I don’t think we played a great game,” said Long Beach center Mate Milisa, who had a game-high 19 points. “We won, and that’s a good thing. But I don’t think we should be playing like this anymore.”

The way they played was good enough against Irvine. The 49ers had five players score in double figures and built a 17-point lead early in the second half. They then showed enough interest to hold off an Anteater rally.

Irvine (12-13, 5-9) got within seven, 72-65, with 3 minutes 36 seconds left, but didn’t score another point.

Antrone Lee (16 points) sank a three-pointer for Long Beach, then grabbed a key rebound, which led to a basket by Rudy Williams (14 points and 11 rebounds).

Yet, the 49ers were not left in a look-at-us mood.

“I hope nobody thinks we’re satisfied with what we’ve done so far,” Milisa said. “We’re not. We want to get to the NCAA tournament.”

That would seem to require winning the conference tournament, which begins March 9. The conference has had only one team in the NCAA tournament each of the last six seasons--and hasn’t had a team win a tournament game since 1993.

An at-large bid for Long Beach (21-4, 13-1) would seem to be a long shot, a fact that obviously makes the 49ers, and their coach, nervous.

“That is not on us . . .,” Milisa began to say when asked about an at-large spot, then was interrupted by Coach Wayne Morgan.

“Let me answer that,” Morgan blurted out. “We can’t be involved in politics, if we get a bid or we don’t get a bid. We would need a crystal ball for that.

“I told [the players] there are 300 teams in America who are tired right now. The teams who can mentally overcome that and maintain their focus are the teams who are going to be successful. Kentucky is tired, Temple is tired, Cincinnati is tired, Irvine is tired.”

A hint: Not a good Final Four pick for the office pool.

Irvine, which is fighting just to get into the conference tournament, was no match for the 49ers. Injuries left the Anteaters with only nine players, including freshman center Matt Okoro, who has played little since being removed from the redshirt list.

The Anteaters shot 45% from the field, but made only one of 15 three-point attempts.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” said Irvine’s Marek Ondera, who had a team-high 18 points. “We could have played much better. But I could sit here and say ‘Could haves’ all day. We have to take what we can from this.”

The 49ers, meanwhile, made 11 of their first 15 shots and jumped to a 26-13 lead eight minutes into the game. They shot 55% in the first half and led, 44-30, at halftime--even though they made only 15 of 27 free throws.

“We came out a little tentative to start the game, which is to be expected over here,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said.

Long Beach led, 51-34, three minutes into the second half, then coasted, relying on Lee to hit key baskets. He made baskets twice after Irvine had crept to within 11, and he nailed the three-pointer to finally put the Anteaters to rest.

“I like to see us concentrate on defense for 40 minutes, I like to see us concentrate on rebounding 40 minutes, I liked to see 40 minutes of offensive execution,” Morgan said. “That’s what it’s going to take to win at the conference tournament.”