FULLERTON, CA – Mike Caffey scored a career-high 34 points and David Samuels tossed in his career high with 22 Thursday night to lead Long Beach State to a 91-85 overtime Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton.
Caffey made a driving layup to tie the game in regulation with 16 seconds left and his 3-pointer with 2 minutes to go in overtime put the 49ers (11-11, 5-1) ahead to stay at 80-77.
Fullerton (8-13, 0-6) got 28 points from Alex Harris but lost its sixth in a row. Long Beach won its fourth in a row to maintain its share of first place with victorious UC Irvine and UC Davis and present Coach Dan Monson with his 300th win.
Long Beach never led in the second half and trailed by as many as 11 points, the last time at 71-60 with 4:14 to play. Caffey hit three 3-pointers in the 15-4 run to end regulation. Harris missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have won the game.
The 49ers scored 29 points off 19 Fullerton turnovers, several of them in the closing minutes.
Lanerryl Johnson came off the bench for 16 points for the Titans, Josh Gentry had 12 and Moses Morgan had 10.
Samuels led all rebounders with 13 and Steve McClellan had 12 for Fullerton.
"Down the stretch we had way too many turnovers," said Fullerton Coach Dedrique Taylor. "We proved we can play with anybody. But we have to learn how to make championship plays down the stretch. Long Beach is a battle tested team.
"Our team is getting better. We have to recognize the positive things we did early."
In the first half, Long Beach's last lead was 15-14 with about 12 minutes to go. Fullerton used an 8-0 run to build a lead as large as 11 points at 36-25 with 3:28 to play. The 49ers responded with an 11-3 spurt to close within 39-36 before Harris hit a trey to beat the buzzer and end the period with 15 points. The Titans' 42-36 halftime lead was only their second in six Big West games.
Harris sat out several minutes early in the second half after suffering a leg cramp.
Fullerton is idle until a Feb. 5 home game against CSUN. Long Beach hosts Hawai'I Saturday at 4 p.m.
