By Mel Franks
ANAHEIM – Mike Caffey scored 24 points and Temidayo Yussuf added 15 including 6 in the final minutes as Long Beach State held on for a 73-70 victory over Xavier Sunday afternoon to capture third place in the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy basketball tournament at the Honda Center.
Tyler Lamb had 16 points and Branford Jones came off the bench for 13 including a go-ahead 3-pointer for the 49ers (4-4), who avenged a 97-74 loss at Xavier on Nov. 18 in a non-bracketed game of the same tournament.
Matt Stainbrook with 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds led the Musketeers (5-2). Myles
Davis scored 10 points including a jack-knife 30-footer in the final minute but missed a half-court attempt to tie at the buzzer.
The 49ers won the game at the 3-point line, making 10 of 22 including 8 of 11 (73 percent) in the second half with Jones going 3-for-3. Xavier made only 2 of 16, both by Davis.
Jones’ 3-pointer put Long Beach ahead to stay at 63-61 with 3:33 to play. Yussuf scored the 49ers’ next two buckets and then converted both ends of a bonus free-throw situation for a 69-63 advantage. David Samuels and Lamb added 4 more free throws to offset Davis’ 7 points in the final 95 seconds as well as four missed free throws by Samuels and a turnover in the last 25 seconds.
James Farr had 10 first-half rebounds for Xavier, which held a 28-14 advantage at intermission. But Farr had only 1 in the second half, which the 49ers won on the boards, 24-17.
Defense dominated the first half with both teams shooting less than 40 percent and Long Beach using a late 9-0 run to close within 28-25.
Long Beach next plays host to Nevada on Wednesday night while Xavier hosts Alabama on Saturday night.
Sunday, November 30 at Honda Center, Anaheim – Results & Schedule (all times Pacific)
Western Michigan 68, San Diego 66
Long Beach State 73, Xavier 70
4:30 p.m., Princeton vs. San José State (ESPN3)
Championship Game – 7 p.m., UTEP vs. Washington (ESPN2)
Thursday, November 27 at Titan Gym, Fullerton – Results (daily attendance 2,241)
UTEP 62, Princeton 56
Xavier 82, San Diego 71
Long Beach State 73, Western Michigan 55
Washington 78, San José State 56
Friday, November 28 at Titan Gym, Fullerton, Calif. – Results (daily attendance 2,430)
Semi-finals – UTEP 77, Xavier 73
San Diego 75, Princeton 65
Western Michigan 79, San José State 60
Semi-finals – Washington 80, Long Beach State 70
DIRECTV Wooden Legacy Championship Games
- 2007 – USC 70, Southern Illinois 45
- 2008 – Wake Forest 87, Baylor 74
- 2009 – West Virginia 84, Portland 66
- 2010 – UNLV 71, Virginia Tech 59
- 2011 – Saint Louis 83, Oklahoma 63
- 2012 – Cal 78, Pacific 58
- 2013 – San Diego State 67, Marquette 59
- 2014 – UTEP vs. Washington, 7 p.m. PT, Sunday, November 30 at Honda Center, Anaheim
- 2015, November 26, 27 and 29 – The field consists of Arizona (No. 3) Boise State, Boston College, Evansville,Michigan State (No. 20) Providence (No. 28) Santa Clara and UC Irvine.
Caffey helps Long Beach State avenge earlier Xavier setback added by Paul Gotham on
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