Long Beach State Broadsided on the Road Again, 71-64

MORAGA — The Long Beach State team psyche, not exactly healthy before Saturday, took another jarring hit in unfriendly surroundings.

St. Mary’s provided the latest trauma by defeating Long Beach in overtime, 71-64, in front of 1,377 at the McKeon Pavilion--keeping the 49ers winless in five road games and searching for answers.

“It’s really difficult mentally,” Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan said. “At this point, I think we’re all very sick and tired of losing on the road. We need to start winning and we all know that.

“[The players] did a lot of very good things today and I told them that I’m proud of their effort. But at this point we’re concerned with winning the game.”

Road games are difficult enough for the 49ers (4-5) without adding additional obstacles, which they did against the Gaels (10-3). The 49ers rallied to force overtime at 56-56 on a three-point play by guard Brandon Titus with 42 seconds remaining in regulation. St. Mary’s had a chance to win the game in regulation but reserve guard Frank Allocco missed a desperation attempt at the buzzer.

Then, following their pattern on the road, the 49ers collapsed.

The 49ers committed turnovers on their first three possessions in overtime without attempting a shot. The Gaels capitalized and scored six straight, taking a 62-56 lead on a layup by guard Josh Unruh with 2:33 to play in overtime. After that, the 49ers were out of sync and out of the game.

“Offensively . . . we have to do a much better job,” Morgan said. “We have to do a better job moving the ball, we have to start making our own breaks.

“If we wait around hoping for luck, I don’t know if the leprechaun is going to show up.”

For the first time this season, guard James Cotton was not the 49ers’ leading scorer. Titus led the team with 19 and Cotton was the only other 49er in double figures with 17. However, Cotton missed 14 of 20 field-goal attempts and is shooting 30.7% (16 of 52) in his last three games.

“I really don’t know what to say,” Cotton said. “I guess I’m just struggling right now.”

Titus said that as Cotton goes, so goes Long Beach.

“We have to get James open more,” he said. “He’s our best player and our go-to guy--we’ve all accepted that. Then when his points come other things can open up. The fact is, we’re just not going to win if James isn’t scoring.”

Forward A.J. Rollins led St. Mary’s with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Rollins scored eight of the Gaels’ 15 points in overtime.

Long Beach’s best stretch of basketball Saturday came midway through the first half. Long Beach held a 22-11 lead with 6:30 left in the half and St. Mary’s had problems getting good shots against Long Beach’s zone. Long Beach led at halftime, 28-22.

“We played as bad as we have all year in the first half,” said St. Mary’s Coach Ernie Kent, whose team had only six field goals at halftime.

“But the way we played in overtime was the way we’ve played all year. We executed our offense in overtime and we got the shots we wanted. We really took care of business.”