SOUTHLAND

Long Beach State 68, Cal State Fullerton 60--Forward Kevin Roberts scored 17 points and had five rebounds as the 49ers earned their first Big West Conference victory of the season before 1,924 at the Pyramid.

Long Beach, which lost to first-year conference member UC Riverside on Thursday, improved to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in the Big West with its fifth consecutive victory over the Titans.

‘We have been up and down and inconsistent, but I think we came in and played pretty hard and pretty consistently tonight,’ Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan said.

Roberts, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound sophomore from Petaluma, scored 10 points in the first half as the 49ers outscored Fullerton, 21-8, in the final 8 minutes 46 seconds for a 32-20 halftime lead. The Titans did themselves no favors by making only seven of 29 shots (24%).

Fullerton pulled to within six points several times in the second half, but was unable to launch a serious threat.

Fullerton forward Pape Sowe made a basket and a free throw with 27.9 seconds left to make the score, 64-58, before Roberts and Tony Darden each made one free throw and Rudy Williams made two to seal the victory.

Fullerton, which played well but lost to UC Irvine on Thursday, dropped to 3-10 and 0-4 in the Big West, its worst start in conference play since going 0-4 during the 1993-94 season. ‘Every game has its own identity, but we can’t seem to get over the hump,’ Fullerton Coach Donny Daniels said.

Guard Ron Johnson had 12 points and center Travis Reed added 10 for Long Beach, which goes on the road for games at Idaho and Utah State.

Sow had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Fullerton, which plays next Saturday at Riverside. Guard Kevin Richardson had nine points for the Titans