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9:01am | One of the blessings of youth is often the absence of fear, so it meant very little for the 49er men’s basketball team to share their long jet ride to Hawaii with the college basketball team from mighty Clemson.
 
This fourth year edition of the Monson Maniacs (actually the fans are supposed to be maniacal while the players are poised and professional) have taken those dark steps down to the cellar in games with Pitt, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, etc. This Thursday night they face feisty and talented Xavier who found the headlines the past week for a end of game brawl with Cincy and used some ill-chosen words in the post gamed presser.
 
Some punishment has been already meted out but the Musketeers will still have most of their big guns for the First round test with LBSU in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. The 49ers open with the No. 14 X men on Thursday at 8 p.m. (PT). The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
 
The tune-up for tropical paradise was found in Long Beach State's 76-54 win over Eastern New Mexico Monday night at the Walter Pyramid. Newcomer James Ennis connected on 5-of-9 shots, (two three pointers) and a few mad dashes from end line to end line. Old-timers Larry Anderson 14 points, Eugene Phelps 11, Casper Ware 10 and Mike Caffey supported the offense. As usual T.J. Robinson led all rebounders with eight, and LAX (Anderson) added seven.
 
Edis Dervisevic got the Beach going with eight first-half points, and three assists, on 4-of-5 shooting and some of that physicality that is the trademark of Xavier. Expect some fireworks in the paint.
 
The improving ladies basketball team lost 73-64 in double overtime to Wichita State in the Beach Classic. It was the first home loss of the year (record is now 5-8 overall.) and again the bench was shorthanded due to big people injuries. Ella Clark even used a wheel chair on her C Christmas trip back home to London.
 
Turnovers hurt the Beach again and Long Beach was out rebounded, 49-39. LBSU came out strong in the second period, scoring 12 unanswered points to own a 31-30 edge. After that it was a see-saw deal that drives coaches nuts. The 49ers had a chance to secure the win when Ochiltree grabbed an offensive board with 11 seconds on the clock but Hallie Meneses was then fouled, missed the front end of a one-and-one and the moment was gone.
 
With the out of conference work done, Long Beach State returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 29, when it opens Big West Conference play against UC Riverside. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
UNDER THE PALM TREE DUST -- Quotes from the Musketeer fans. “Long Beach State has the #1 S.O.S, and all 4 of their games against top 10 teams were extremely close. Just about all of their wins have been by double digits. Xavier has yet to play a current ranked team, and a lot of their games have been extremely close. I have a feeling Xavier is going to lose...76-68...and probably fall completely out of the rankings.”
 
“Without Mark Lyons and Dezine Wells we very well could lose. We may not lose another game after that all year though. I'm not too worried about the LBSU game. If we lose, we lose. We ran roughshod over the Atlantic 10 last year with probably the worst team we have had since Miller's first year. I expect more of the same this year. The conference is better overall, but so is Xavier.”

“At Xavier it's about winning in March, not December. We already have a solid OOC resume that will get more solid when we beat Gonzaga and Memphis. We will win the Atlantic 10 again and get a top 3 seed. Then we will make another deep NCAA tournament run.”


“Kind of random and not all that important, but considering that everyone said Tu took himself out of POY candidacy because of the brawl, does anyone think that if he comes back and tears it up against LBSU, leading us to a win, it might cause some people to place him even higher in that race than he was before? Xavier is top 10 and suffers its worst loss in the history of its building, then gets it's star PG back and returns to form with a win over a good team. Hypothetically, that would probably suggest to most that he's about as important as any player is to his team.”


Niner Junior forward Nadia Link has been named to the 2011 NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Women's Division I All-America Team as announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
 
Link, who was selected to the third team, became the third All-American in school history, while she is the first 49er to garner the honor from the NSCAA. Kim Silos and Haley Bolt are the only other two players to earn the national recognition as they were both selected to the Soccer Buzz Freshman All-America Team in 2005. Enjoy your time off Nadia, I think that Mauricio has spring plans for his fall favorites. -- DR. DAN

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