Long Beach St. 84, CS Monterey Bay 73

Wednesday November 27, 2002

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Tony Darden scored a career-high 26 points to lead Long Beach State to an 84-73 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Tuesday night.

Darden, a senior guard, made 10-of-18 shots from the floor and 5-of-9 from three-point range. Kevin Roberts added 16 points and Cody Pearson grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds for the 49ers (1-1).

Antoine Griffin led the Otters (1-4) with 19 points and a game-high seven assists. Jared Jungwirth added 17 points.

Monterey Bay, an NAIA school that had never beaten an NCAA Division I team, tied the score at 60 on Jared Lloyd's jumper with 7:41 to play.

But Darden and Roberts combined for eight points during a 14-4 run that gave Long Beach a 74-64 lead with 3:38 remaining. Darden scored five points and Roberts had three.

The 49ers, who missed eight of their first 10 field-goal attempts in the second half, made 13 of their final 21. Long Beach also converted 20 of 26 free throws, compared to 10-of-22 for Monterey Bay.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)