Long Beach State basketball coach Dan Monson was confident six weeks ago when he said his squad had the highest ceiling of any team in the Big West Conference.
After a massive set of peaks and valleys since then, Long Beach proved Monson was right on Saturday night, winning the Big West Tournament with a 74-70 victory over second-seeded UC Davis in Henderson, Nevada.
The victory advanced fourth-seeded Long Beach (21-14) to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
LBSU will learn its seeding, destination and opponent for its first-round game when the 68-team bracket is revealed on Sunday at 3 p.m. (CBS, Ch. 2).
Monson’s comments regarding his team’s high ceiling followed a 77-68 win against visiting UC San Diego on Feb. 3 – the second game of a five-game winning streak that put the team in prime position to secure one of the top two seeds into the tournament and an automatic bye into the semifinals.
But a five-game losing streak to end the regular season capped by a 10-point loss to UC Davis last Saturday not only changed those expectations, but likely led to LBSU announcing on Monday that the school would be mutually parting ways with Monson following the season.
If there’s any bitterness, Monson isn’t showing his cards.
“God has blessed me with a great career and these kids have been awesome to coach,” Monson said. “When (new Chargers coach) Jim Harbaugh says, ‘Who’s got it better than him?’ Somebody needs to tell him, Dan Monson.’”
Monson wasn’t ready to call Saturday’s victory the highlight of his career, pointing to his 1999 team at Gonzaga that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the first of that program’s six trips to that round since then, but it was likely his favorite among the school-record 175 wins he has collected at LBSU.
Monson also said he doesn’t expect Long Beach to be his final stop.
“I love coaching, I love teams,” he said. “I need a new challenge. It’s life, it’s on to the next chapter.”
UC Davis tried to close the book on Monson by scoring five straight points to pull within 66-65 with 1:58 left.
Long Beach came back with five consecutive points of its own to go ahead 71-65 with 21 seconds left.
Aboubacar Traore, who went 12 for 13 from the free-throw line in the semifinal win against top-seeded UC Irvine, went 3 for 4 in the final 21 seconds and Marcus Tsohonis sealed the win with two more free throws with four seconds left.
Lassina Traore, coming off a season-high 21 points in the semifinal win against UCI, scored a career-high 25 points in the championship game.
Tsohonis also scored 25, including 15 in the first half, while Aboubacar Traore contributed seven points, 13 rebounds and six assists two nights after recording the first triple-double in tournament history.
“They’re good people, and that’s what you’ve got to start with,” Monson said of his players. “They’ve got character. We had an up-and-down year, but they came in here and they played for each other.”
The two-man crew of Ty Johnson and Elijah Pepper combined for 51 points (on 49 shots from the field) for UC Davis (20-13), which came in riding a four-game winning streak after knocking off third-seeded Hawaii in the semifinals.
Johnson scored 30 points and Pepper, the Big West Player of the Year, finished with 21.
Neither team scored the first four minutes and both started 0 for 6 from the field before Aboubacar Traore scored on a dunk.
Johnson ended Davis’ drought with a jumper and he then sank a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to end a 6-0 run by LBSU and cut it to 8-5.
Tshonis hit a step-back 3-pointer and Aboubacar Traore scored off a putback on the next possession to give LBSU its biggest lead of the first half at 15-5 with 11:01 left.
The Aggies began to take advantage of Long Beach’s poor transition defense and Leo DeBruhl and Pepper scored on back-to-back fast breaks after misses by Tsohonis to spark a 12-0 run that moved UCD ahead 17-15.
The Aggies continued to add to their lead and Pepper scored on a drive to make it 25-17. Tsohonis banked in a 3-pointer to end a 20-2 run and trim the lead to 25-20 with 4:03 left in the half and the Aggies eventually took a five-point lead into the break.
Long Beach regained the lead 57-54 on a corner 3-pointer by AJ George off a feed from Aboubacar Traore. Tsohonis scored on a tip-in to cap a 13-2 run and stretch the lead to 62-56.
Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson participates in a net cutting ceremony after his team defeated UC Davis in the Big West Tournament championship game on Saturday night in Henderson, Nev. LBSU won, 74-70, to clinch its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2012 and extend the outgoing coach’s career with the program. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)