The Long Beach State men’s and women’s basketball teams picked up quality wins over the Thanksgiving weekend, and the women’s volleyball team is hosting Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship matches this week.
LBSU Men’s Basketball
The Beach mounted a comeback to take down Providence 66-65 on Thanksgiving morning in the first game of the Wooden Legacy tournament at Honda Center. It is the 12th win over a Power 6 conference program in the Dan Monson era at LBSU.
“I was really proud that we got down 17, and chained back up as we like to call it, and got back into the game,” Monson said. “To see that get rewarded with a win will hopefully go a long way with a young team like ours.”
Transfer guard Michael Carter III scored a game-high 23 points to go with three steals and three assists. The sophomore was fouled on a possible game-winning 3-point attempt, and calmly made all three free throws to secure the win in the final seconds.
Carter averaged 17.7 points and 5.3 assists over three Wooden Legacy games. The Beach (3-6) lost to Wake Forest in the semifinal 88-75, and fell to Penn in the final game of the tournament 95-79.
The Beach returns to Walter Pyramid on Saturday to host Pacific.
LBSU Women’s Basketball
The Beach (2-5) also picked up a quality win at the Cal Classic tournament in Berkley where they beat Penn State 64-56 on Friday. LBSU lost to Cal 68-45 in the championship game.
Sophomore Justina King was named to the Cal Classic All-Tournament Team after totaling 29 points, five assists, four steals, and two rebounds on the weekend.
LBSU stays on the road for two games this week at Santa Clara and Seattle.
LBCC Women’s Volleyball
The Vikings (20-8) finished their season with a five-set loss to Orange Coast College last week in the SoCal Regional Playoffs 25-17, 21-25. 25-20, 27-25, 16-14.
LBCC sophomore outside hitter Brooke Earkman led the Vikings with 28 kills to go with 17 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Anisa Lopez chipped in 24 points with seven digs and two service aces, while freshman setter Jillian Petnicki dished out 59 assists.
LBSU Tennis
Former LBSU tennis coach Dan Campbell recently passed away at the age of 89. He coached at LBSU for two decades, and won the school’s first men’s national championship in 1967.
Campbell was inducted to the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1990. While at LBSU he won five conference championships and was a four-time PCAA Coach of the Year.
When Campbell retired in 1990, he was the longest tenured coach in LBSU history. He also contributed to the athletic department as a radio broadcaster for football and basketball games.
Campbell was a longtime resident of Seal Beach. He is survived by his wife Marty, his sons John and Danny, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
