Niners fall to Highlanders, take on Fullerton tonight

All good things must come to an end.

For The Beach, that meant a loss last Saturday to UC Riverside.

With it went their undefeated conference record.

They were thoroughly dominated on the glass again and this time it cost them.

Tonight they host Cal State Fullerton and the potent backcourt of Josh Akognon and Jacques Streeter. It should be a tremendous matchup and the 'Myd should be rocking.

Saturday night they travel to the campus of UCI to take on the Anteaters in search of a 3-0 start on the road in Big West play.

For a more detailed preview of those two match-ups and information on former Beach coach Tex Winter who will be honored tonight, click this link!

Check daily49er.com/sports tonight for a full recap and box score on the game.

Niners win again, now 5-0 in Big West play

LBSU is all alone atop the Big West standings with a perfect 5-0 mark. No one else is better than 3-2. 

They have four of the next five at home before the heavy road portion of their schedule takes over and they might be in full scale "hold onto your hats" mode as they try and maintain the lead and grab the regular season title.

There is still 11 games to go but you got to love the position they are in especially if they can run it to 9-1 or 10-0 before finishing up with five of six on the road. 

The only game away from the Pyramid is a short trip down the 405 to UCI where the Anteaters aren't exactly lighting the world on fire. 

Otherwise the Beach gets Riverside, Fullerton, Pacific and Davis all at home. 

All are winnable games.

Here is the link to the Northridge game story and what a game it was. Up-and-down, back and forth. Great battle between the (supposed) top dog and the squad trying to take that mantle.

Riverside on Saturday night, stay tuned.

Long Beach downs Pacific, 3-0 in Big West Play

It's early.

Very early in fact.

But as of this moment Long Beach St. sits all alone atop the Big West men's basketball standings.

But after winning three Big West conference games all last season this year's squad matched that total in less than a week.

I have said since the beginning that this team needed to win on the road to have a chance. They were 1-16 away from the Pyramid last year and just 1-6 to start the season until last night.

Coach Monson spoke about holding serve at home after beating Santa Barbara but even an undefeated home slate - very tough to accomplish, even for the best teams - gets you a .500 mark come time to lace em up in Anaheim.

To compete for the regular season title, or at the very least the ever important first round tourney bye you have to win games on the road and that is exactly what The Beach did.

Pacific went into the Matadome a week ago and took care of a very good Northridge team. For LBSU to turn around and beat them in their own gym is a huge statement especially when you consider this.

Cal State Northridge, the preseason pick to win the conference, will be without senior guard Deon Tresvant for the remainder of the season after he and a fellow teammate allegedly stole more than $6000 dollars worth of merchandise from a Porter Ranch Best Buy with the help of Jeff Braswell, head coach Bobby Braswell's son.

Tresvant, a Long Beach native, was leading the Matadors in scoring. Losing him is a big blow to their chances.

I voted in that preseason poll. I like nearly everyone else in Irvine had Northridge first. Unlike, nearly everyone else I had LBSU second.

Call me a homer but I had a hunch this team would be better.

Donovan Morris was not going to sneak up on anyone but he doesn't have to. With the addition of transfer Stephan Gilling and the contributions of four solid freshman this team is leaps and bounds ahead of last year's squad both in the win column and in confidence.

Gilling's shot comes and goes but his defense hasn't. Casper Ware has taken his lumps like all Freshman will but his dedication - spurned on by his father - is inspiring and he takes the bad games to heart and works harder to improve.

Larry Anderson can stretch the defense and run the floor while T.J. Robinson has shouldered the rebounding load and done the dirty work inside. Eugene Phelps has been the odd man out at times but should get more playing time down the stretch and be a starter in the near future.

Morris has struggled with his consistency despite three Big West player-of-the-week nods. The team has found a way to win anyway. He knows he doesn't always have to be the man anymore and most importantly other teams are realizing it. 

When he is on there isn't a better player in the league and I fully expect him to raise his level of play once again as the team battles down the stretch in February and March.

It's not even late January, the season is only halfway over. The Beach is still a meager 8-7.

But those tough non-conference games may finally be paying dividends.

Say what you want about the Big West but BYU, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Temple or Oregon aren't the names on the other teams jerseys anymore. Long Beach is in their element and seems ready to thrive.

The best this team has to offer is still in front of them.

They have put it together in spurts to this point but have the look of a group that may finally be figuring it out.

Another good opponent awaits them away from the friendly confines of their Big Blue Long Beach home.

Win or lose UC Davis will be a good test tomorrow night.

Regardless of the outcome this team has a lot of good basketball in front of them so jump on the bandwagon early.

It's going to be a fun ride.

The Ed Hochuli Bowl

As ESPN refuses to let anyone in earshot of a TV forget, its Capital One Bowl Week! 

And while nothing gets me more excited than the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl there are two dandies in San Di-ago this week.

First you have the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl featuring BCS snub and 9th-ranked Boise State against 11th-ranked TCU. Money talks and there is no disputing that but its a shame that the BCS darling Broncos and Ian Johnson who shocked the Sooners in 2006 are playing this early. 

Considering the fifth BCS game is Cincinnati (ranked 12th) and Virginia Tech (ranked 21st) based on giving berths to conferences that have no good teams this game is a de-facto fifth place game as long as I'm concerned.

Then comes Sunday. While the Broncos-Chargers tussle interests me very little, two side stories do. First you have the hangover from the Ed Hochuli call. The uber-referee who inexplicably blew a play dead while Jay Cutler fumbled making it un-reviewable and giving the Broncos a chance to win all the way back in week 2. 

But more on that in a second.

Chris Berman said on Sportscenter last night that the play was pretty much excused now because the Chargers (7-8) have a chance to win the division this week if they beat the Broncos (8-7) based on the tiebreaker. 

While I am a strong believer in things never unfolding the exact same way, uh, Boomer are you kidding me?

If that call goes the other way like it should have the Chargers would be 8-7 and the Broncos 7-8. In other words, the Chargers would have already clinched the division via the second tiebreaker.

After head-to-head which would be 1-1 - if the Chargers laid down this week and rested their players for the playoffs - the second divisional tiebreaker is winning percentage within the division. San Diego is 4-1 (would be 5-0) while Denver is 3-2 (would be 2-3).

So in no way is Hochuli vindicated yet. Does San Diego still have a chance to take care of business and win the division on Sunday? Sure, but they shouldn't have to.

So we are left with the Ed Hochuli Bowl. But here is where the sponsors need to step in. Every other bowl has some absurd 10-word corporate moniker preceding its title so why not this one?

GNC is the first logical choice in honor of Hochuli's governator-esque physique but it seems too succinct. So does HGH.

My front-runner to this point would be BALCO. Despite the San Francisco steroid studio's dubious past I think it would be very fitting. Something says Bud Selig might not agree.

Imagine Al Michaels saying, "Live from San Diego its the Chargers and the Broncos in the Bay Area Labratory Co-Operative Ed Hochuli Bowl! Will the Broncos get one call? Stay tuned to find out! Its Sunday Night Football on NBC!"

If they can bump Leno to 10 pm they can't be above this right?

Road trip yields two more losses for LBSU

Some early season Pyramid-induced momentum did not follow the 49ers to San Francisco, Ogden or Syracuse. 

While LBSU is a perfect 3-0 at home the 'Niners fell to just 1-5 on the road with losses to Weber State and Syracuse.

While a loss to the 13th-ranked 'Cuse 2700 miles from The Beach after a 9 a.m. Pacific tip-off is nothing to be ashamed of, the trend of leaving opposing buildings on the wrong side of the score sheet is.

If this team wants to contend in the Big West they are absolutely going to have to win away from home. 

While maybe the four-game winning streak got the year-two-leap-under-coach-Monson hysteria whipped up a bit too quickly this team is good and can play much better.

Full details on the rematch against Weber State

LBSU hangs with Orange early, gets left in the dust late

Montana State comes to town Saturday then on Monday Christmas comes early to The Beach.

Not the jolly fat guy with the beard or that white stuff seen on top of the mountains but Dionte Christmas and the Temple Owls.

Christmas dropped 35 on Bruce Pearl and the 8th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers en route to a 88-72 beatdown.

How's that for some holiday spirit?

Prior to Saturday afternoon I thought Temple, who was just 4-3 at the time and had lost by 16 at home to Miami (OH) would provide little more than a marquee name on the schedule but Scrooge and co. look a little more daunting now. 

It's off to play Ernie Kent and the Oregon Ducks before New Year's and Big West conference play greets Long Beach promptly in 2009 with a Jan 2 battle against UCSB.

Win streak comes to end at hands of the Dons

LBSU's four game win streak is no more. Then again, the 2007-2008 squad only won six games all season, so progress is relative.

Most importantly Long Beach's three losses have been by a combined 20 points, a far cry from the blowouts endured last year. Being competitive in every game is a huge step forward.

The key to being in the Big West race come late February will be the 'Niners play on the road. After going 1-16 away from the Pyramid in Dan Monson's first year, this year's team fell to 1-3 with the loss to USF. 

Playing BYU and Wisconsin in their own buildings and scaring the hell out of them means a lot but not unless it pays dividends (i.e. wins) on the road in the Big West. 

Simply holding serve at the Pyramid wont be enough to get it done.

USF 78, LBSU 74 (Double OT) December 6th

LBSU gets two more wins, runs streak to 4

The 'Niners take down New Mexico State and Pepperdine at the Pyramid, head to San Francisco to take on the Dons. 

Weber State and Syracuse next week before returning home for Montana State and Temple before Christmas.

Tons of links, got the NMSU game story. News and notes, including recruiting, the 76 Classic and Donovan Morris' Big West Player of the Week award. That comes with the Pepperdine preview. Also got the recently completed recap for that one.

Look for a quick game story about the USF game on Sunday and a preview of next week's games Wednesday afternoon. Go Beach!

LBSU 81, Pepperdine 68

News and Notes, Pepperdine Preview

LBSU 82, New Mexico State 77

Sharks off to record start

Through 25 games this NHL season the San Jose Sharks have won a staggering 21 games. With a 13-0-1 mark at home they have notched a point in their last 23 regular season games at The Tank.

After having one of the best teams in the league since the lockout but falling short - three straight 2nd round exits - in the playoffs, this team is the best of them all.

With more scoring from the likes of Devin Setoguchi, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski to go with the already dangerous Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo the Sharks lead the league in scoring.

But that's not all.

GM Doug Wilson also brought in two of the best defenseman in the league in Dan Boyle and Rob Blake. Behind them is one of the top-3 goalies in the world in Evgeni Nabokov.

Now that is one hell of a team.

Then again its December. Hockey matters most in May and June for this team.

I dont care how hot it is when summer hits the playoff beards better still be in full affect.

Best 25 game starts in NHL History

Year        Team         Pts Record Result

2008-09 Sharks        43   20-3-1             ?
1943-44 Canadiens      43   20-2-3  Won Stanley Cup
2006-07 Sabres           42   20-3-2   Lost in conference finals
2005-06 Senators        42   21-4-0   Lost in second round
2001-02 Red Wings     42   20-3-2  Won Stanley Cup
1979-80 Flyers            42   18-1-6   Lost in Cup final
1929-30 Bruins           42   21-4-0  Won Stanley Cup
1984-85 Oilers           41   19-3-3   Won Stanley Cup