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BIG WEST CONFERENCE

Long Beach State (3-17 overall, 1-9 in conference) at Pacific (17-2, 11-0), 3 p.m., FSNW2 -- The 49ers are holding out hope that with a second-half-of-the-season rally they might qualify for the Big West tournament. “That’s our goal,” guard Jibril Hodges said. But they missed an opportunity Thursday in a two-point loss at Cal State Northridge. Pacific held its three-game cushion in the Big West by defeating UC Irvine. The Tigers have won 13 in a row and extended their conference winning streak to 24.

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Utah State (16-5, 7-3) at UC Santa Barbara (8-11, 5-6), 7 p.m., KIST (1340) -- Santa Barbara held Idaho to three points over the final 10 minutes 36 seconds on Thursday. The Gauchos will need a similar defensive effort against a Utah State team that has won five in a row, including three on the road by margins of 25, 31 and 24 points.

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UC Irvine (10-8, 4-6) at Cal State Northridge (11-9, 8-3), 7 p.m., KUCI-FM (88.9), KWRM (1370) -- Coming up for second-place Northridge are road games at Pacific and Utah State, so a strong performance at home is key. Coach Bobby Braswell called out his younger players after a tight victory over Long Beach. “You can’t take games for granted,” he said. Irvine is 5-5 on the road and pushed Pacific to the brink before falling Thursday. Point guard Aaron Fitzgerald is averaging 14.4 points to lead the Anteaters and he is the league leader in assists, averaging 5.8 a game.

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NONCONFERENCE

UC Riverside (7-12) at UC Davis (8-12), 7 p.m., KPRO (1570) -- Riverside has lost three in a row, although guard Rickey Porter is emerging from a long slump, having made 11 of 23 shots in his last two games. Led by senior forward Ryan Moore (16.9 points) and senior guard Fowzi Abdelsamad (16.3 points), Davis is 3-7 against Big West teams, including a 66-65 victory at Riverside on Jan. 10. Davis is coming off a 70-64 loss at Pacific on Monday.

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WEST COAST CONFERENCE

Pepperdine (13-10, 3-5) at San Diego (11-10, 3-5), 4:30 p.m., FSNW -- The Waves put together one of their best games of the season in a blowout win over San Francisco on Thursday, five days after a one-sided defeat against rival Loyola Marymount. San Diego’s front line of Brandon Gay, Brice Vounang and Nick Lewis combined for 56 points and 23 rebounds in a 77-70 win over Loyola.

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Loyola Marymount (10-11, 2-6) at San Francisco (13-8, 4-4), 7 p.m., KXLU-FM (88.9) -- The Lions got big games from guard Brandon Worthy and center Matthew Knight against San Diego on Thursday, but Coach Steve Aggers was not happy with his team’s woeful rebounding -- San Diego had a 40-23 edge. Worthy, in his second game since returning from knee surgery, missed only one of nine shots and had 19 points and Knight (25 points, eight rebounds) had his seventh game with 20 or more points.

-- Eric Stephens

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WOMEN

Washington (9-13 overall, 5-7 in the Pacific 10) at USC (15-6, 9-3), 4 p.m., Sports Arena, KMPC (1540) -- USC got what it hoped for Thursday -- a win over Washington State along with an Arizona loss at Stanford. That guarantees the Trojans cannot be overtaken by the Wildcats for second place in the Pac-10 this weekend. Brynn Cameron had 19 points against Washington State.

-- Mike Terry