Men's Hoops Tries To Hang First Conference Loss On Long Beach State

Long Beach, CA—The final week of the regular season is upon us, and the UC Riverside Men’s Basketball Team can still finish as high as fourth in the Big West Conference. Wins in their final two games will help that cause, but UCR’s test on Saturday, February 25 is as tough as they come, as the Highlanders travel to Long Beach State to face off against front-running 49ers.

The Beach hasn’t lost a regular season conference game since January 22, 2011 (86-76 at UC Irvine), and they haven’t dropped a home conference match since February 17, 2010 (74-52 to Pacific).

The Highlanders took Long Beach State to overtime earlier this season before falling 77-70. The 49ers won the game at the free throw line where they went 26 of 36 as compared to just 8 of 11 for UC Riverside. Phil Martin scored 31 points in the loss while Casper Ware’s 18 points led five LBSU players in double figures.

Martin still leads the Big West in scoring in conference games averaging 19.7 points per contest. The Beach has three players in the top 15 in Ware (5th, 17.5), Larry Anderson (6th, 14.2) and T.J. Robinson (12th, 12.2). Robinson also leads the conference in rebounding at 10.0 boards per game.

UC Riverside has lost five straight to the Beach and 17 of 27 overall, but since the Highlanders made the move to Division I, they are 10-12 all-time in 22 meetings.

UCR ends its 2011-12 regular season next Saturday, March 3 with a 5 pm PT tip against UC Irvine. It is Homecoming for the Highlanders as well as Senior Nite as UC Riverside says goodbye to the Class of 2012.

Men's Hoops Tries To Hang First Conference Loss On Long Beach State

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