Long Beach State Takes Title!
Posted: Friday, February 25, 2011 5:59 am
The City of Champions added another banner to its collection on Thursday night, as the 49er men’s basketball team won the Big West regular season crown. A 61-55 win over Cal Poly clinched the title, which guarantees the 49ers at least a bid in the NIT tournament, although obviously their sights are set much higher.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for three years,” said junior Casper Ware, with celebrating students packing the floor around him, and his teammates ascending a latter to cut down the net. “It’s amazing.”
The 49ers picked up their seventh straight win in impressive, gutty fashion, in a game that featured 19 lead changes and a Cal Poly team that proved itself a cut above the rest of Long Beach’s chase pack. “That’s how you expect to have to win a league title,” said head coach Dan Monson after the game. “It’s going to be hard.”
Ware led the 49ers with abandon, as always, with a game-high 25 points and a 5-10 performance from beyond the arc. He opened the game by knocking down three straight, giving Long Beach a 9-8 lead. The 49ers led by as many as seven at one point, but Cal Poly narrowed it to 31-28 at halftime.
The second half was an arm-wrestling match, with both teams playing hard, and the lead switching sides with almost every possession. With 4:31 remaining, the Mustangs got a three from Shawn Lewis to give them the lead, 50-48. But Ware, as usual, put the team on his shoulders and knocked down his career high-tying fifth three of the night, to give his team the lead for the final time. Greg Plater knocked down another three to give them some room, and then Long Beach made smart plays and hit their free throws down the stretch to seal it.
Fittingly, it was Ware who made the last pair. “Casper is the best player in this league today,” said Monson. “He was cramping in both calves at the end of the game, and he wanted no part of coming out. He’s a winner.”
Big man Edis Dervisevic, who put in 17 crucial minutes of hard defensive play, went a step further. “He’s the best point guard on the west coast,” said the New York native. Dervisevic’s story was indicative of the grind-it-out, passionate play the 49ers displayed on Thursday.
At one point, he grabbed his shoulder in the game, wincing and grimacing. He got his arms up to fulfill his responsibilities on that defensive possession, and then hustled down on offense. He revealed after the game that his shoulder had slipped partially out of its socket—when he took a bump from a Mustang in the post, it was knocked back in. “He kind of helped me out with that,” said a grinning Dervisevic, who said the shoulder felt fine.
Larry Anderson backed up Ware with 14 points, two steals, and two assists, and was very active on offense and defense in the second half. As the crowd and his teammates celebrated, Plater continued to look stoic, even with the clipped net hanging around his neck. “I’m just focused on what lies ahead,” he said, referring to the Big West Tournament. “We’re not finished yet.”
In fact, they’re not even finished with the regular season—the 49ers host UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 5:05pm, on Senior Night at the Pyramid.