More Pain for Long Beach’s Road Worriers

MORAGA, Calif. — 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 State, 71-64, in overtime before 1,377 at McKeon Pavilion--keeping Long Beach State winless in five games on the road and searching for answers.

“It’s really difficult mentally,” Long Beach State 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.”

Road games are difficult enough for the 49ers (4-5) without adding obstacles, which they did plenty of 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 in regulation, but reserve guard Frank Allocco missed a desperation attempt at the buzzer.

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

Long Beach State committed turnovers on its first three possessions in overtime without taking a shot. The Gaels capitalized and scored six in a row, taking a 62-56 lead on a layup by guard Josh Unruh with 2:33 to play. 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.”

For the first time this season, guard James Cotton was not the 49ers’ leading scorer. Titus led the team with 19 points 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.

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