Long Beach Pretty Bad in an Ugly Overtime Loss

LAS VEGAS — It couldn’t have happened without a bad overall effort, and Long Beach State certainly cooperated there.

The 49ers shot horribly from the field and free-throw lines in both halves, committed eye-opening turnovers and made enough crucial mistakes Saturday night to lose to Miami of Ohio in overtime, 69-62, in the opener of the Las Vegas Bowl Classic before 750 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Miami guard Jermaine Henderson made an uncontested three-point shot with three seconds left to tie it, 52-52, and force overtime. But consistent failings persisted for Long Beach.

Long Beach (3-3) might not have squandered its 10-point, first-half lead if it had shot better than 30.4% from the field in the half, 39.1% in the second and 33% overall. Maybe it could have held on by shooting better than 66.7% from the line in the first half, 58.8% in the second and 58.3% for the game. Add to that only seven assists and 19 turnovers, and the formula was complete.

And what about those Redskins? They shot 27.7% from the field, committed 19 turnovers and played the final two minutes of regulation and all of overtime without standout forward Devin Davis, who fouled out with six points and 10 rebounds. Still, Miami (6-0) is perfect.

“I think this shows how good of a team we are,” said Davis, who missed 10 of 12 shots. “We couldn’t hit anything, but we kept playing hard and stayed in the game.”

Rasul Salahuddin led Long Beach with 16 points.