DAVIS — Gabe Levin led Long Beach State with 18 points, but first-half foul trouble and a career night from UC Davis junior Siler Schneider helped the host Aggies defeat the 49ers 84-75 in a key Big West Conference game Wednesday night.
Schneider scored a career-high 29 points to go with six assists and former Tustin High standout TJ Shorts II added 17 points for the Aggies (12-6, 3-1).
Schneider had a traditional three-point play and a 3-pointer, A.J. John made a 3-pointer and a layup and the Aggies were up 33-29. Schneider added another 3-pointer and Shorts scored UC Davis’ last six points of the half for a 42-37 lead. The two teams combined for 30-of-59 shooting (51 percent) and UC Davis was 7 for 11 from 3-point range.
UC Davis extended the lead after the break on layups from John, Chima Moneke and a pair from Schneider for a 52-41 lead. Levin made a couple of layups to trim the 49ers’ deficit to four with 12:24 left, but Schneider countered with a 3-pointer and a jumper and Long Beach State (9-12, 3-2) never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Edon Maxhuni added 10 points for the 49ers, and Temidayo Yussuf grabbed 14 rebounds – one off his career high. Mason Riggins added seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for Long Beach.
The 49ers outrebounded the Aggies 41-28 and held standout Chima Moneke to six points and seven rebounds, but Schneider proved to be the difference.
Deishuan Booker scored seven early points to help give Long Beach State an 11-8 lead through seven minutes, but the junior was the first of three 49ers with first-half foul trouble. Long Beach led 23-20 with just under nine minutes left in the first half, before second fouls from Yussuf and Levin forced Coach Dan Monson to go to his bench, setting up UC Davis for its strong finish to the first half.
Long Beach next hosts Cal State Fullerton (11-6, 4-1) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. Fullerton suffered its first conference loss on Wednesday, falling at UC Santa Barbara (13-5, 2-2).