Beach still tough, but not invincible

It’s no longer impossible to beat Long Beach State on the 49ers’ home court merely very difficult.

The Beach may not possess the same aura of invincibility in the Walter Pyramid in 2014 as its Big West regular-season title runs of the past three years. But as LBSU showed in shooting a season-high 60 percent in a 92-83 win at Hawaii on Jan. 30, there’s still a good deal of talent and athleticism to overcome on the floor adorned with a palm tree motif.

Fourth-place Hawaii and third-place Long Beach State seek to better their seeding for the upcoming conference tournament at the expense of the other in Thursday’s matchup at The Pyramid.

In last season’s meeting there, UH came close to handing The Beach its first conference home loss since 2010.

But a costly UH turnover led to Long Beach point guard Mike Caffey hitting a runner with two seconds left. UH’s last-gasp attempt, a long inbounds pass to go for the tie or win, was washed away by a player control foul and the Rainbow Warriors fell 76-72.

"Personally, I keep in mind what happened last year with Long Beach," senior center Davis Rozitis said. "I thought we had it there, but we just came out unlucky there. So we owe them one. I think all the guys who played that game last year up there, they feel the same way. So we’re double motivated."

The ‘Bows have a few things riding on this rare one-game conference trip. Byproducts of a victory include: UH’s first 20-win season since 2003-04, a record fifth straight road win and keeping alive a chance (however slim) at a top-two Big West seed.

The honor of piercing Long Beach’s bubble at home went to UC Irvine to open Big West play this year, 46-44 on Jan. 9. LBSU dropped another tight one there to UC Santa Barbara, 65-64 two weeks ago.

Home-court advantage has been difficult for anyone to maintain, a year after four Big West teams ran the table in their own building. The 49ers dealt UH the first of three setbacks in conference home games this season. The crafty Caffey scored a career-high 29 and A.J. Spencer, a role player, went for a career-best 24.

Long Beach coach Dan Monson expects a close rematch, but with the scoring reduced drastically as the teams take away each other’s best options. He is the first to say his team isn’t of the caliber as those of recent past.

"I told our guys we have to be realistic for us to score 84 tomorrow is going to be a daunting task," Monson said. "We’ve got to get control of the game more on the defensive end. I still feel Hawaii’s the best offensive team in the league. I just think when you have a low-post presence like (Isaac) Fotu, and nobody you can really play off of to help on him, it’s very difficult. They surround him with three really good players. That’s a great balance to have."

Fotu has two straight double-doubles, and leads UH in Big West games at 18.1 ppg on 61.7 percent shooting.

Five juniors comprise LBSU’s starting lineup. Among them, Caffey (16.4 ppg, 4.3 apg) is the most dangerous, but off guard Tyler Lamb (15.3 ppg), a UCLA transfer, must be respected. Athletic 6-9 forward Dan Jennings (10.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg) is the biggest frontcourt threat.

UH point guard Keith Shamburger hasn’t shot the ball well in league play at 27.9 percent, but his assist-to-turnover ratio is nearly 4-to-1 in those games. He leads the Big West overall in dimes at 5.4 per game.

Caffey, though, handily got the better of that matchup last time. In the rematch, UH prefers to take its defense de-Caffey-nated.

"I thought as a team defensively we let them get to the paint, let them drive it far too much," UH coach Gib Arnold said this week. "That will be the emphasis of the preparation this week, is taking away that middle penetration. Really staying in front of them, making them make tough shots and not letting them get to the paint. I thought Caffey was phenomenal. He went for 29. We really got to contain him or it’ll be a long night for us."

UH senior forward Christian Standhardinger had 18 points and nine rebounds in the last meeting. He needs 16 more points to become the program’s 16th 1,000-point scorer, and the fourth to do so in a two-year UH career.

After going 9-for-12 at the free-throw line in an 86-77 win over UC Davis last Saturday, Standhardinger who is up to 76.9 percent at the stripe needs just three more foul-shot attempts to tie John Penebacker’s record of 224 set in 1969-70. He’s also only 14 short of Chris Gaines record for free-throw makes (184) in 1989-90.