The Black and Gold Asylum: Official Blog of the Monson Maniacs
Keeping up with all the news, notes and rumors about Long Beach State's Men's Basketball team.
The Monson Maniacs are the premiere student section in the Big West Conference.
All was quiet on the basketball front this week as the Long Beach State 49ers took a much-needed week off after the 76 Classic.
After coming off three hard fought games against tough opponents, and a huge win for the program over struggling UCLA, the Beach will have most likely its most difficult and easiest games of the year – in the same week.
The more difficult game is tomorrow night, as the 49ers head to hostile Austin, Texas to take on the very impressive No. 2 ranked Texas Longhorns.
Texas is fast, big and undefeated, and will be quite the tough task for the 49ers to match up with. The game will be televised on ESPNU, and Long Beach State fans are encouraged to head down town to Boston's Sports Bar for a viewing party. There will be food and drink specials, and all Monson Maniacs in attendance will receive a free pizza!
After playing in the Lone Star State, The Beach will get to do something they haven’t done in nearly a month – play a home game. LBSU will take on Division II opponent Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The Sea Otters (2-3) will be the second D.II opponent the 49ers have faced, the first being Alaska-Anchorage.
With impressive play on the road and the 76 Classic, hopefully fans will take notice and continue to fill the Pyramid with 4,000+ 49er fans.
In other news, two of Long Beach State’s signings for next year’s team are off to hot starts. Local product Shelton Boykin, a senior at Long Beach Poly, led his team to a 3-0 sweep of a pre-season tournament and earned MVP of the tournament.
Another current high school senior and future 49er, Jacob Thomas, also is succeeding early in his senior season. Thomas dropped a staggering 43 points in the opening game of the season.
After being manhandled by No. 8 West Virginia and hanging close, but still losing, to No. 19 Clemson, Long Beach State got back in the win column a way they never have before - by beating UCLA.
Sophomore forward T.J. Robinson led the Beach with 25 points and 13 rebounds, on his way to earning all tourney honors, and sophomore guard Casper Ware surged in the second half, scoring all 11 of his points in the second period to give LBSU (4-3) their first win over their cross town rivals in 11 attempts Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center in the final round of the 76 Classic.
After being blown out by Portland, UCLA (2-4) sealed the match up with the Beach after losing to No. 10 Butler in the closing seconds of their second round contest with the Bulldogs.
Sunday’s game, to decide 7th place in the 8 team field, started sloppy, with neither team scoring until UCLA guard Jerime Anderson hit a jumper at the 17:14 mark. Early play was marred by missed opportunities on both sides, and careless play by LBSU, leading to 10 first half turnovers.
The Bruins were able to build a lead as high as seven points with 7:30 left in the first half, but some strong inside play by Robinson, including a tip-in at the buzzer, led to a 32 - 31 halftime lead for the Beach.
LBSU came out firing in the second half, led by the continued low post presence of Robinson and Ware attacking the rim. Senior outside shooter Stephan Gilling knocked down a couple of clean jump shots for the Beach, sophomore forward Eugene Phelps helped Robinson down low and sophomore guard Larry Anderson was able to shake off a wretched cold streak to lead LBSU on what would eventually be a 19 - 9 run in the second half, ballooning the 49ers lead to 17 points.
Though UCLA was able to cut the lead to within 10 at the 6:17 mark, The Bruins would never get closer than that, as the final horn sounded with the score board reading 79 - 68 in favor of Long Beach Stat. For the first time. Ever.
The Bruins were led by senior guard Michael Roll, who scored 23 points, freshman forward Reeves Nelson was the only other UCLA player to reach double digit points with 11.
Gilling finished with 13 points, while junior shooting guard Greg Plater added 10 points off the bench for LBSU.
The game was full of firsts for UCLA, all being bad. First time the Bruins had lost to LBSU, first time they had failed to win at least one game in an 8 team tournament, first time UCLA had lost to two members of the Big West Conference (CSU Fullerton beat the Bruins earlier this season in double OT at Pauley Pavillion.)
There was one other first in the game, the first signature win for third year Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson.
The Beach’s continued tough pre-season schedule gives Monson more opportunities fora few more of those this year, though they will be much tougher tasks as the 49ers next head to Austin, Texas to face the No. 3 ranked Longhorns.
Trips to top 10 teams Kentucky and Duke are also on the horizon.
But for now, after wrapping up Thanksgiving weekend, the 49ers can be thankful for facing UCLA. For once.
The Beach hit the road for three very different non-conference game this week, returning back to Long Beach with a 2-1 record a lot of positives to build off of.
The first game was on Tuesday night just an hour north up the 101 against rebuilding West Coast Conference foe Pepperdine. LBSU played a sloppy first half, not finishing easy chances, and getting absolutely dismantled on the glass at both ends.
A fiery timeout by Coach Monson, however, gave his players a wake up call, and The Beach was able to go in to halftime only down 2.
The second half was a completely different story for LBSU, as they both had a new defensive intensity and a nose for the hoop. Larry Anderson absolutely went off in the half, going on a personal 7-0 run, with a three point shot and back to back steals leading to easy transition dunks.
Long Beach went on to win 67 - 58, with Anderson leading LBSU with 20. T.J. Robinson again had a solid game, turning in his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards.
Despite a good second half, LBSU still had a lot of questions to answer, like being out rebounded by Pepperdine 33 - 54, including giving up a staggering 25 offensive boards to the Waves. Especially concerning considering the fact that Long Beach would next travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on Notre Dame's Fighting Irish and pre-season All-American candidate forward Luke Harongody.
On Thursday, LBSU tipped off with Notre Dame at 4:05 p.m. local time, and from the beginning it was a dog fight. Though on paper Notre Dame appeared to have the advantage inside, LBSU used it's quickness, speed, and outside shooting to make the first half a back and forth afair. That, and the fact that Eugene Phelps played like an absolute beast. Wherein the first two games Phelps was in consistent foul trouble, at Notre Dame, against one of the best players in the country, Phelps was able more than able to hold his own, grabbing 11 boards in the first half, including 5 on the offensive glass.
Some strong play from Larry Anderson (noticing a pattern?), including 16 first half points and some sharp shooting from long range sniper Greg Plater off the bench and LBSU only trailed two at the half, 37 - 35 Notre Dame.
Unfortunately, the Irish got their act together in the second half, clamping down on defense, feeding the ball to their post man Harongody, and when The Beach's shots stopped falling all of sudden the Irish lead was in double digits, and it continued to grow until the horn sounded and Notre Dame looked as if they had blown out the Beach with a 20 point victory 82 - 62.
And while the score may seem lopsided the game sure wasn't a lot of positives emerged from that game, which hopefully could be carried over to another tough road contest, at Wisconsion Green Bay.
On Saturday morning, the 49ers concluded their long road trip, taking on the Phoenix of Wisconsin- Green Bay, a team that torched the nets last year at the Pyramid, leading the Phoenix to an 86 - 75 win over The Beach during last year's bracket buster game.
But the 49ers had revenge on their minds in Green Bay, and decided to give the three-point happy Phoenix a taste of their own medicine. That aerial assault was headed by senior shooting guard Stephan Gilling, who hasn't played excepionlly well to start the season, scoring only 4 points at Pepperdine, and none at Notre Dame.
After two sub-par games, Gilling was lighting up the score board in the first half, leading The Beach with a staggering 20 first half points on 6 - 10 from beyond the arc and 7 - 11 overall from the field. Gilling actually outscored his teammates leading to a 38 - 31 lead for LBSU.
Anderson took over for Gilling in the second half, working on creating his own shot and consistently getting to the free throw line, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Anderson added 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to fill out the stat sheet and to lead the 49ers out of Green Bay with an 81 - 69 victory.
Overall, it was a successful road trip for the 49ers, coming away with two quality road wins, and learning a great bit from hanging with a powerful Big East team for most of the game.
But the road doesn't get any easier for Long Beach during Thanksgiving week. Thursday morning LBSU will tip off their first game of the 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center with a very tough match up with the West Virginia Mountaineers, the No. 9 team in the country. Though REPORTS indicate that WV may be without their leading player, Devin Ebanks, the Mountaineers will still be a tough match for the 49ers.
Depending on the outcome of Thursday's game, Long Beach will either play Texas A&M or No. 23 Clemson on Friday, with a final game taking place on Saturday with an unknown opponent, though if UCLA continues to play as poorly as they have thus far this season, they could be waiting for Long Beach in the losers bracket.
The other teams in the 76 Classic include No. 10 Butler, No. 18 Minnesota, along with Portland. The field features four top 25 teams, and will be another big test for Long Beach.
Hopefully the 49ers will have something to be thankful for after this Thanksgiving break, a win or two against some of the top teams in the nation.
Lastly, here is a video of the Monson Maniacs in action at homecoming
Homecoming was just about all you could have asked for from a Long Beach State fan's perspective.
All five starters for The Beach scored in double figures led by 18 from sophomore guard Larry Anderson, who also added 7 assists and 5 steals to fill up the stat sheet, on the way to a 86 - 65 blowout victory over DII opponent Alaska - Anchorage in front of a nearly filled Pyramid with 4,122 in attendance.
T.J. Robinson added 15 points and 11 rebounds to notch his fifth career double-double. Casper Ware showed off an improved outside game, connecting on 3 of 4 three point attempts scoring 16 points as well as handing out 6 assists.
The 49ers speed and quickness was too much for the Seawolves, who turned the ball over 21 times leading to 17 LBSU points.
The 49ers got off to a quick start, and built their lead by employing varying degrees of full court press, leading to 14 steals.
The Monson Maniacs were on their A game from the start, creating a buzz throughout the Pyramid as they hopped up down, hounded the opposing players, and showed their continued growth as the hype for this year's season continues to grow.
The night before Homecoming, the Maniacs held their first ever camp out, staying over night in the Pyramid to get ready for the game. The Maniacs played basketball, had a Red Bull pong tournament, dance contest, and started a season long qualifying process for a brand new Volkswagon Jetta to be given away at the end of the season to one lucky Maniac.
This year the Monson Maniacs are allowed to enter the game 90 minutes early, and have access to food and drinks, as well as a first crack at warming up their heckling as the teams shoot around before the game.
All in all, it was a great day and weekend for LBSU.
Next up are road trips to Malibu to take on Pepperdine on Tuesday and a weeked of tough road contests starting with a tough trip to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Thursday and a re-match with University of Wisconsion Green Bay who torched the 49ers in last year's Bracket Buster game.
Here are some links to press and photos covering the game and Homecoming weekend.
After months of talking about who is going to play where, who we are going to play, how we are going to play, how someone might fit in and how the team will respond we are less than a week away from playing in an actual game! With referees, points, fans and an outcome. It's hard to believe the off-season has already flown by and the Monson Maniacs are so excited about the buzz on campus right now about the team. Everyone is super pumped for a great year.
Homecoming tips off on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid vs. Alaska-Anchorage. Not exactly the toughest opponent, but hopefully Monson has his boys ready to take care of business versus the upset minded Seawolves.
The Monson Maniacs have extensive plans in place for homecoming, kicking off with the Pep-Rally on Thursday night, a camp out following the Women's home opener on Friday night and homecoming tailgating leading up to the afternoon tip-off. For a complete schedule of the events head over to www.MonsonManiacs.com
Some great season previews have been published in the weeks leading up to the season. The District Weekly had a fantastic article and interview with Coach Monson which can be read HERE. CSULB's student magazine DIG also has an extensive chat with Monson about the upcoming season HERE.
The Daily-49er also had a recent article about the Monson Maniacs and our plans for homecoming this year, including the first ever camp out to be held before a basketball game. The article can be read HERE.
In other news, the 49ers took part in a closed door scrimmage with UNLV which the team lost by 5 or 6 points, but Coach Monson was satisfied with the effort. The full article can be read HERE.
It's an exciting time at The Beach, in one week's time we will know a lot more about our team and where we will be going from there. Check back here frequently for updates about Monson Maniacs happenings, the latest news and updates about the team, and any dirt we can dig up about our opponents.
Also be sure to follow the Monson Maniacs on Twitter @MonsonManiacs for the latest updates.
GO BEACH!!!
And here's a little trip down memory lane, cant believe this was one year ago!
