LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Keala King scored 22 points, Tony Freeland added 18 and Long Beach State erased an 11-point second-half deficit to beat UC Davis 71-65 on Wednesday night and close in on the Big West Conference regular-season title.
King was 9 of 16 from the floor for the 49ers (17-9, 13-2), who got 15 points from James Ennis and 11 rebounds from Dan Jennings. LBSU pulled three games ahead of Pacific, which lost at UC Irvine, in the conference standings. Each team has three conference games remaining, so one LBSU win or one Pacific loss will give LBSU the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
Cory Hawkins had 21 points for the Aggies (11-14, 7-7), and J.T. Adenrele had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
UC Davis led 35-24 after Adenrele’s layup just after halftime, but the 49ers stormed back, taking the lead for good, 59-57, on Freeland’s layup with 3:45 left.
