Milisa Not Half-Bad for Long Beach State

RENO —  Idaho guard Gordon Scott put the pressure on Long Beach State for a half in the opening game of the Big West Conference tournament Thursday. But it was only for a half.

The 49ers went to a different defense in the second half and shut down Scott. Long Beach center Mate Milisa was the consistent one, tying a conference tournament scoring record with 36 points, 18 in each half.

The result: a 97-86 victory for Long Beach.

The 49ers advance into tonight’s semifinal game against New Mexico State, which defeated UC Irvine, 70-51.

Scott made eight of nine shots from the field, including four of five three-point shots, for 22 points in the first half, but was shut out in the second. He tried only two shots from the field.

The 49ers (24-4) trailed by 12 points at one point late in the first half but a 10-point flurry by Milisa helped close the gap to six points at halftime.

“Scott had a terrific first half, but we went to a triangle-and-two defense in the second half,” Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan said. “We hadn’t ever used it on Scott before, and not using it until the second half made it difficult for them to adjust.”

Long Beach had held Scott to four field goals in 15 attempts and 11 points when the teams played previously.

“He came out on fire, and there was nothing I could do to stop him,” the 49ers’ Antrone Lee said. “In the second half, I listened to the coach and tried to make him put the ball on the floor more.”

Long Beach shot 51.4% in the first half, but that was still off the 68% pace set by Idaho. The 49ers shot 53.7% for the game with Milisa going 13 for 19. He was eight for eight on free throws. Idaho (12-17) shot 52.7%, 40% in the second half.

“I knew we needed to start playing better defense in the second half,” Milisa said. “We were playing well on offense in the first half, but then we picked it up on defense in the second half.”

Morgan said it has been his team’s pattern to play better in the second half.

“We always talk about playing a good 40 minutes, and I don’t have any explanation for why we usually play better in the second half,” Morgan said. “We just seem to get better as games go along.”

The 49ers overcame reduced playing time for power forward James Williams because of foul trouble. Williams played only nine minutes, scoring four points. But Ramel Lloyd scored 25 points, making nine of 18 from the field.