Nixon's Three at the Buzzer Sends Long Beach State to Big West Title Game
 Long Beach State junior guard Aaron Nixon drained this last second three-pointer to give the 49ers a 75-73 victory over UC Irvine in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament Friday. Photo by Matt A. Brown |
On a night where Long Beach State made a tournament-record 17 three-pointers, it was Aaron Nixon's trey as time expired that propelled the 49ers to a 75-73 victory over UC Irvine in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinals on Friday night at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Third-seeded Long Beach State (18-11) advances to the championship game for the first time since 1995 and will take on top-seeded Pacific on Saturday at 9 p.m. That game will be televised live on ESPN.
Nixon had a game-high 28 points for the 49ers and made six from beyond the arc, but none more important than his final three. Nixon dribbled the ball into the left corner, momentarily lost possession of it, and then fired up a shot that found the bottom of the net as time expired to send the 49ers into the title game.
It was the 49ers' three-point shooting that brought them back from an eight-point deficit. Down four at 56-52 with 14:13 left, back-to-back triples by Shawn Hawkins and Jibril Hodges gave Long Beach a 58-56 advantage. The 49ers led by as much as six in the second half at 72-66 with 3:44 remaining when Irvine scored seven unanswered to take the lead. A three-point play by Mark Kelley made it a three-point game and a tip-in by Ross Schraeder made it a 72-71 contest. Then with 16 seconds left, Shamar Armstrong's jumper gave the Anteaters a 73-72 lead. But it would be Nixon's heroics that gave Long Beach the victory.
Neither team led by more than three over the first eight minutes until UC Irvine went on a run to take an eight-point lead. Even at 17, the Anteaters scored six in a row and 10-of-12 to take a 27-19 lead at the 10:11 mark. But as quick as UCI got the lead, Long Beach took it back. In a span of 2:30, Hodges, Nixon and Hodges again drained unanswered three-pointers to give the 49ers a 28-27 advantage. That would be the last lead of the half for the 49ers though, as a Darren Fells layup and a three by Nic Campbell put the Anteaters back up by four. UC Irvine extended its lead to eight again at 39-31 following a trey by Schraeder with 2:19 left in the half. Long Beach pulled to within three before UCI scored the final four points of the half to take a 45-38 lead to the locker room.
Hodges scored all 18 of his points from beyond the arc, while Hawkins added 16. Long Beach shot 47.5% from the field and made 50% of its three-pointers.
For UC Irvine (16-13), Schraeder had a team-high 17. Fells added 13 points and seven rebounds, Kelley had 11 off the bench and Aaron Fitzgerald dished out 10 assists.
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