49ers Stay Tough in Second Half, Beat Gauchos

By JASON REID

Jan. 24, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LONG BEACH — The signs were all there for another face-first flop, but Long Beach State finally reversed roles for a change.

The show still has its kinks, and one game definitely does not a turnaround make. But at least it wasn’t the same old story for Long Beach, which earned the right to feel good for a night with a 68-59 Big West Conference victory over UC Santa Barbara Thursday in front of 3,003 at the Pyramid.

This time, the 49ers didn’t disappear after their halftime break. Not even fade away a little.

Instead, they played their best half defensively, mixed in some good long-range shooting from their best long-range guy and along the way revived a sleeping giant. The combination enabled Long Beach (6-9 overall, 2-3 in conference) to win for only the third time in 11 games, but still move into a three-way tie for third place in the Western Division with Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton.

“The assistant coaches did a great job of breaking down what [Santa Barbara] does offensively,” 49er Coach Wayne Morgan said. “It was also refreshing to see that our players carried over what we worked on in practice, in terms of understanding what they had to do. That’s how you win games.”

The 49ers sure know how to lose them by now, and it appeared they were following their former path again Thursday. Long Beach seems to return to the court in a fog after halftime, and they were bumping into things again against Santa Barbara.

Five straight points by Gaucho guard Raymond Tutt gave Santa Barbara a 39-30 lead with 17:33 remaining in the game, and made the 49er fans squirm in their seats. They had seen this before.

Ah, not so fast. Long Beach came right back--and in a big way.

Guards James Cotton and Tommie Davis sparked a 12-0 run that gave Long Beach a 42-39 lead with 14:31 left to play. And it would get better, much better, for the 49ers.

Center Ike Nwankwo, the transfer from UCLA who is too often a non-factor, broke out in the second half, scoring 10 of his 12 points. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound Nwankwo dominated in the post against the smaller Gaucho defenders thrown at him. He also had nine rebounds (five offensive) and blocked three shots in easily his best game of the season.

“I haven’t played even half as well as I know I can at heart,” Nwankwo said. “I’m finally getting acclimated to the system and I’m just happy to be helping the guys out.”

A three-pointer by Cotton gave Long Beach a 49-43 lead with 10:09 left to play. Nwankwo capped a 21-4 run, making it 51-43 with 8:26 left.

Cotton made four of nine three-point tries and scored a game-high 23 points. Reserve forward Marcus Johnson had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Long Beach.

He also limited his Gaucho counterpart and longtime friend Tutt, whom Cotton is battling for the conference scoring lead, to 17 points on five-of-12 shooting from the field.

“We grew up together in San Pedro and I always seem to go against him every time we play,” Cotton said. “He’s a great player, so it’s a big challenge for me.”

Long Beach’s zone defense and traps, half and full court, caused big problems throughout the second half for the Gauchos (7-8, 2-3).