November 11, 1998
A fresh start for 49ers
Basketball: New faces dot lineup as Beach tries to rebound from 1997-98 season.
By GORDON VERRELL
Staff writer for the Long Beach Press Telegram
Long Beach State's men's basketball team gets its first taste of outside competition tonight when it plays the first of its two exhibition games, the first against Next Level Sports, a collection of former college players. Tip-off at the Pyramid is 7:35 p.m.
"I'll be looking at how we play defense, at how we rebound and how we execute on offense," said Coach Wayne Morgan, explaining what he expects to draw from the exhibition. "We'll be looking to see what we've accomplished after three weeks of practicing."
Newcomers Ramel "Rock" Lloyd, a 6-4 guard who transferred from Syracuse and sat out last season, and 6-11 Croatian Mate Milisa, who played last season at Pensacola, Fla., junior college, are two of the 49ers' starters. Guard Tommie Davis, who's coming back after sitting out last season, will start at the point. Two returnees, 6-7 Antrone Lee and 6-6 D'Cean Bryant, and 6-8 Richie Smalls, a native of New York City who played last season at St. Catherine, Ky., Junior College, will alternate the two forward positions.
"Two of those three will start," Morgan said, "but we feel we have six starters."
Undoubtedly, everyone available will get playing time - including freshman guard Ron Johnson, from Helix High in San Diego, who impressed at the Black/Gold scrimmage - but Lloyd and Milisa will certainly get the most attention.
"At this time last season we weren't sure where our scoring was going to come from," said Morgan, alluding to the 49ers' dismal 10-19 record in 1997-98. "This season we know Rock will score, and we know Mate will score. And we know that D'Cean, Antrone and Richie Smalls can hurt you."
Next Level Sports, who was 0-6 before playing at Nebraska Tuesday night, has five onetime Big West Conference players on its roster, one of them former 49er Eric Brown, who played four seasons at Long Beach (1992-96). Among Brown's 49er contributions was a key 3-point basket in overtime against Nevada in the Big West tournament championship game in 1995, and, a week later, a 10-point performance in a loss to Utah in the NCAA tournament - the last time the 49ers played in the post-season.
Forwards Grant Stone (foot) and Jared Frey (groin) are sidelined with injuries. Stone resumed practice this week after off-season surgery on his foot, which he injured at the Big West tournament. Frey has yet to practice. ... Point guard Charles O'Neal will not become eligible until December. He'll miss the first nine games. ... In the Black/Gold scrimmage, with freshman Ron Johnson squaring off against senior Tommie Davis in the guard battle, Johnson won out, scoring 10 points with two assists and two steals while holding Davis scoreless and contributing to his seven turnovers. ... Other former Big West players on the Next Level Sports roster are John Williams (Cal State Fullerton), Sam Crawford and Denmark Reid (New Mexico State) and Kevin Rice (Utah State). ... Last season Rice scored 18 and 17 points in two games against the 49ers, and Reid scored 19 for New Mexico State in an overtime loss at the Pyramid. ... Next Level lost at Oklahoma, 84-77, on Saturday night, its last game before playing Tuesday night at Nebraska. ... The 49ers' other exhibition isn't until Dec. 19, against Team Fokus. They worked it that way in order to avoid going two weeks without a game (between Dec. 12 vs. Kansas State and Dec. 27 at Northwestern). ... Last year the 49ers split their two exhibition games. ... The 49ers' regular-season opener is Saturday afternoon against Cal State Northridge, coached by former 49er assistant Bobby Braswell.