Most of Long Beach State’s top playmakers won’t be around when the 49ers come to town for Big West Conference games against Hawaii, starting next season.

So they’re making the most of their current visit to the Stan Sheriff Center.

A record-setting defensive effort propelled Long Beach State to a 64-43 win over Auburn on Friday and into the championship game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

The 49ers (7-5), who start four seniors, advanced to face Kansas State for the tournament championship at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

"They’re very physical, they’ve got a lot of size and very good personnel and I think it’s going to be a great basketball game," Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson said of the Wildcats. "It’s our third major opponent, so for your RPI that’s want you hope for when you come to these (tournaments)."

LBSU set a tournament record for fewest points allowed in a game. Extended scoring droughts in both halves sent Auburn (8-2) to Sunday’s third-place game against UTEP.

Auburn shot 26.3 percent from the field and LBSU outrebounded the Tigers 43-25 to ignite its transition game.

"We pride ourselves on holding people under 60; that was the main goal for today, that was really one of the only goals we had," said 49ers senior guard Larry Anderson, who finished with a team-high 16 points.

"We get a lot of offense out of our defense, so that’s what we pride ourselves on. We love to play defense because we get stops and we get to get out on fast breaks."

Auburn guard Frankie Sullivan represented the Tigers’ lone scoring threat for much of the game and finished with 22 points, hitting six of nine 3-point attempts along the way.

Sullivan scored 14 of the Tigers’ first 18 points, but a 14-2 LBSU run coincided with Auburn going nearly 7:30 without a field goal and the 49ers took a 32-22 lead into halftime.

Auburn trailed 46-38 after a Sullivan 3-pointer with 12:08 left in the game, but the Tigers went scoreless over the next 9 minutes and LBSU pulled away.

Kansas State 78, UTEP 70

After the Miners (5-6) erased a 13-point halftime deficit and briefly took a second-half lead, the deep Wildcats (9-1) pushed back with an 11-0 spurt to claim the afternoon semifinal matchup.

"We were awful defensively," KSU coach Frank Martin said. "But give them credit; they didn’t back down from our pressure."

Eventually, taller K-State blasted UTEP on the boards (39-21) and with depth; its bench scoring advantage was 42-13. Reserve guard Angel Rodriguez led the Wildcats in scoring with 16.

UTEP had five players score in double figures, led by Jacques Streeter’s 15 points and six assists.

Clemson 83, Southern Illinois 75, OT

In a matchup of coaches who go back a long way, Brad Brownell’s Tigers (7-5) outlasted Chris Lowery’s Salukis (3-7) in a consolation semifinal.

The two coaches were high school classmates at Harrison High in Evansville, Ind.

CU guard Rod Hall (18 points) converted a three-point play with under 4 seconds left to send the game to the extra period, then guard Tanner Smith (career-high 26 points) scored the go-ahead three-point play with 1:59 left in OT for the Tigers.

Forward Mamadou Seck led the Salukis with 18 points.