LONG BEACH, CA – Two teams burdened by lengthy losing streaks clashed on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. One shot about 50 percent for most of the game while the other shot 33 percent and compounded it with making only 15 of 27 free throws to go with 16 turnovers.
Long Beach State was the former team and the 49ers snapped a 5-game skid with an easy 70-47 win Saturday over the latter, Cal State Fullerton, which lost its seventh in a row.
Travis Hammonds led a balanced stat sheet for the 49ers (14-16, 8-6) with 16 points. Mike Caffey added 13 and David Samuels had 12.
No Titan (9-29, 1-13) player broke into double figures with Kennedy Esume leading the way with 9. Alex Harris, Lanerryl Johnson and Temjae Singleton each scored 7.
An early 13-0 run staked Long Beach to a 19-5 advantage and it led by double digits the rest of the way including a 43-25 edge at halftime. The 49ers shot 55 percent in the first half while Fullerton made only 8 of 24.
Fullerton plays at UC Irvine on Thursday night and closes out the regular season Saturday at home vs. Hawai'i.