Toros Drop Close 79-71 Exhibition Game to Long Beach
November 9, 2001

LONG BEACH, Calif.-The Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team played their only exhibition game of the season and came out on the short end of a close 79-71 decision at NCAA I Long Beach State tonight in The Pyramid.

CSUDH led three different times in the first half but went into the break down by six points 40-34. Seven of nine players Toros head coach Larry Hauser played in the first stanza all scored led by senior center Kevin Blunt (San Bernardino, CA) with eight points on 4-5 from the floor. Blunt also pulled down six boards in his first 13 minutes on the floor.

Senior guard Jacob Poole (San Diego, CA) came out of intermission and proceeded to score 10 of the first 11 Toros' points to trim the 49er lead to 48-46 with 16:29 left in the game. But that was as close as CSUDH would get the rest of the way. The Toros would trim the Long Beach lead five different times down the stretch but was unable to hit crucial shots to tie the game. LBSU hit seven free throws in the final minute to finally shake the Toros. Long Beach only led by double figures once and that was with :26 seconds left in the game.

CSUDH trailed by four points, 72-68 with 2-1/2 minutes left. But Travis Reed made one of two free throws with 1:50 left, then Toros freshman Earl Rowland missed a long 3-point attempt. Blunt was called for an intentional foul with :42 seconds remaining, setting off the string of free throws in the final seconds.

"I thought we competed," said Toros head coach Larry Hauser. "We kept them off the offensive boards in the first half (the 49ers only had two offensive rebounds in the first half)," he said, "and they out-rebounded us by only four (40-36) in the game. I'll take that."

CSUDH was led by Poole's 20 points on 9-17 from the field. He also dished out a game-high eight assists. The Toros received a big night from 6-7 center Kevin Blunt who finished with a double-double pouring in 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Junior forward Lamar Lawrence (Hawthorne, CA) also knocked in double figures offensively for the Toros with 12 points while pulling down nine boards

LBSU had four players in double figures led by paced by Ron Johnson and Travis Reed with 16 points each. Michael Darrett and Tony Darden poured in 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Toros will open up their regular season schedule at home in two weeks hosting Cal Baptist University on Saturday, Nov. 24 in the Torodome. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.