San Luis Obispo Beats Long Beach

Battered and bruised Cal Poly San Luis Obispo got the best medicine it could hope for Wednesday night: Long Beach State’s defense.

The Mustangs got a career-high 22 points from guard Jason Allen and ended a two-game losing streak by exploiting the 49er defense time and time again for easy jump shots and fast-break opportunities in an 86-71 Big West Conference victory at the Pyramid.

Forward Kevin Roberts led Long Beach (2-15, 1-7) with 18 points. The 49ers were playing without starting guard Darnell Thompson, who aggravated a foot injury in the pregame shoot-around.

“Our defense was way too lax tonight,” first-year 49er Coach Larry Reynolds said. “It’s very tough for us to stay in a game if we don’t play better than that.”

San Luis Obispo (8-9, 4-4) had lost four of its last five in large part because of injury and illness, but the Mustangs got well in a hurry, outrebounding Long Beach, 43-31. San Luis Obispo also made 26 of 28 free-throw attempts.

The Mustangs used a 10-4 run to snap a 22-22 tie in the first half and were never seriously challenged after that.

Tony Darden added 15 points for the 49ers. Vance Lawhorn had 13 and Jibril Hodges had 12.

-- Paul McLeod