Long Beach State Edges Fullerton

There are plenty of opinions about the quality of men’s basketball in the Big West Conference. But it would difficult to find a more entertaining game than Thursday’s meeting between Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

It took Shawn Hawkins’ three-pointer -- on a bank shot -- with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime to finally nudge the 49ers, 8-8 overall and 3-2 in the Big West, past the Titans, 97-96, at Fullerton.

Hawkins, who made four of eight three-pointers, finished with 18 points. He was one of five 49ers in double figures. Jibril Hodges, who forced the overtime on a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left in regulation, led Long Beach State with 23 points. Aaron Nixon had 16 and KeJuan Johnson and Kevin Houston each had 11.

“I think our kids had an outstanding performance. And I have to give Fullerton credit too,” Long Beach Coach Larry Reynolds said. “I don’t care what people say about the Big West, that was as exciting a game as there is.”

Jamaal Brown had 31 points and 10 rebounds for Fullerton (9-6, 3-3) despite a sore back that had kept him from practicing the last two days. Jermaine Harper had 22 and Bobby Brown added 19.

Fullerton Coach Bob Burton could bemoan the fact that Fullerton couldn’t protect an 82-77 lead with 23 seconds to play, or the fact that the Titans missed 10 of 21 free throws. But he did not want to take away from the Long Beach win.

“They hit the tough shots,” Burton said.

Leading, 97-95, after Hawkins’ shot, Reynolds almost gave Fullerton a second overtime when he called a timeout Long Beach didn’t have, and the team was assessed a technical foul. But Bobby Brown only made one of the two free throws

-- Mike Terry

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UC Irvine 71, UC Riverside 61 -- The Anteaters (9-8, 5-0) led by as many as 25 points in the first half, but UC Riverside (2-14, 2-4) rallied to within three points in the second half before Irvine pulled away in a Big West game at Riverside.

Adam Templeton led Irvine with 18 points.

UC Irvine opened the game with 17 straight points and led, 37-12, with 6:12 remaining in the first half before Riverside closed the half with a 17-4 run to trail at halftime, 41-29.

The Anteaters, who rank second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, made seven of 15 from behind the arc in the first half, led by Nick Campbell’s three three-pointers.

A 19-5 run by the Highlanders pulled them to within three points at 59-56 with 5:06 left, but the Anteaters outscored Riverside, 12-5, the rest of the way.

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CS Northridge 70, UC Davis 60 -- Mike Efevberha scored 22 points and Jonathan Heard added 15 to lead the Matadors at Northridge.

The Matadors (7-8) shot 44.7% from the field.

Thomas Juillerat scored 14 points to lead UC Davis (5-12), which shot just under 32% for the game.

The game was marred by three Northridge technical fouls and four UC Davis players who fouled out of the game. Northridge starting forward Calvin Chitwood left the game early in the first half with a bloody nose after he dived for the ball. He returned a short time later and finished with 10 points.

From the Associated Press