CSULB v. Wyoming

As Gordon Verrell in the Long Beach Press-Telegram reminds us all, there's a sign in front of the Arena-Auditorium at the University of Wyoming which reads "Elevation 7,220. How's your oxygen?"

Evidently, CSULB's wasn't too plentiful. They need to work on going anaerobic, because simply running it up and down the court against the Cowboys won't cut it.

And just when it seemed like CSULB was on a roll. On December 27, they beat USC, 81-71. Then three days later, on December 30, they beat Lehigh 72-64, both home games.

In fact, like CSUN in their Big Sky Conference opener, Long Beach's non-conference game Saturday night was literally a disaster. Not one they can't come back from, but a disaster nonetheless. In fact, the 49ers went 10 minutes without scoring a field goal. Not surprisingly, they lost to Wyoming, 55-43. CSULB is now 5-7 on the season, and 0-2 on the road, losing the other one to Kansas State 80-59 on November 22.

On Saturday, the 49ers only shot 25 percent (5 for 20) in the second half, after shooting 45.5 percent (10 for 22) in the first half. Long Beach actually led by 4 at the half, 24-20.

But then they just ran out of steam, committed way too many turnovers, and couldn't get the ball in to their center, big 7'-1" Andy Betts, and when they did, he turned it over more than a few times. And it didn't help that he was double or triple teamed most of the night. That Betts is important is a given, and that was best illustrated by the fact that in the second half, the 49er's only had 23 points, and 11 of them belonged to Betts. When he wasn't hitting, they weren't doing much. More remarkably, when they shut him down, it was for good, and he only had 12 points in the game, and was the only 49er in double figures. The 49er's actually went from 11:12 showing on the clock, until Antrone Lee hit a 3-point shot with 1:14 remaining in the game. By then, Wyoming had gone ahead by 11 points, outscoring Long Beach 14-2.

For Wyoming, Jeron Roberts, from Covina, who played at Charter Oak High, was the high scorer with 18 points, 13 of them in the second half. Here's the stats:

CSULB (43)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Lee             36  3-11   0-0   0-3  1  4    8
Bryant          36   2-6   0-0   2-7  4  4    5
Betts           33   3-7  6-10   5-8  4  4   12
Stone           30   0-2   2-3   1-6  2  4    2
Nuckles         20   2-7   0-0   1-1  0  3    5
Egans           29   4-7   0-0   0-0  1  2    9
Frey             9   0-0   0-0   0-2  0  0    0
Milley           7   1-2   0-0   0-2  0  0    2


_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 15-42  8-13  9-29 12 21   43
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.357, FT-.615. 3-Point Goals:
5-20, .250 (Lee 2-5, Bryant 1-4, Stone 0-1,
Nuckles 1-6, Egans 1-4). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 3 (Lee, Stone, Betts). Turnovers:
23 (Bryant 7, Betts 5, Egans 3, Frey 2, Nuckles
2, Lee, Stone). Steals: 4 (Betts, Bryant, Egans,
Milley).

WYOMING (55)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
French          30   2-3   5-5   2-3  2  1    9
Roberts         38  7-17   4-6   2-2  2  2   18
Allen           13   1-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    2
Young           24   2-6   0-0   2-6  0  2    6
Sawyer          36   2-7   4-4   0-4  4  2    9
Udezue          14   2-3   1-2   0-2  5  2    5
Mcfall          15   1-2   0-0   0-0  1  0    3
Washington      13   1-4   0-0   1-3  1  2    2
Lostetter        4   0-1   1-2   0-0  1  2    1
Mann            13   0-2   0-1   0-0  2  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 18-47 15-20  7-21 18 15   55
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.383, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals: 4-15, .267
(French 0-1, Roberts 0-4, Young 2-5, Sawyer 1-1, Mcfall 1-2,
Mann 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers:
15 (Allen 2, French 2, Udezue 2, Young 2, Lostetter, Mann,
Mcfall, Roberts, Sawyer, Washington). Steals: 10 (Roberts 3,
Lostetter, Mann, Mcfall, Sawyer, Udezue, Washington, Young)

Long Beach begins Big West Conference play with another two road games, Thursday, January 8, 1998 at Nevada and then Saturday January 10, at Utah State.