Commentary: Last night's CSU – Long Beach State game was wild, physical

Last night, Long Beach State came into Moby Arena and handed the Colorado State Rams men’s basketball their first home loss of the season and broke the green and gold’s 10-game regular season home winning streak.

It was a wild, wooly and physical affair from the opening tip forward, with some things which are rarely ever seen in the world of Division I college basketball.

For most of the first half, it was just a classic, back-and-forth basketball game for the Rams and 49ers, until just before halftime when something crazy occurred: CSU head coach Larry Eustachy tripped a Long Beach State player. The referees didn’t see the trip and called it a travel by A.J. Spencer of LBSU. After the player and Eustachy exchanged some words, the coach walked over to the 49ers bench and admitted he accidentally tripped the young man, so the 49ers were awarded the ball. They then sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take their biggest lead of the game, at eight points.

“What happened at the end, I was thinking, what happened at the end of the first half, I think it was Richardson or somebody tripped over my feet,” Eustachy said. “I started thinking at the end of the game, if I wasn’t so honest, we’re only down two. And, it turned into – it could’ve been a basket for us – it turned into a 3 for them.

“But, it was the right thing to do,” he continued. “It was the right thing for the referees to do.”

Mason Riggins trips over Larry Eustachy's foot, turnover. Eustachy goes to LBSU bench to say it happened. Ball LBSU. pic.twitter.com/gAxtB4QzZ0

— Rich (midnight blue 🌠and sunshine yellow ☀️) (@RichKurtzman) December 4, 2015

“I don’t know,” Eustachy said if his feet were on the court or not. “That’s why I said, ‘Hey, I tripped him.’ He started arguing with me and I made it clear to him, I’ve never cheated in my life, ‘I’m not going to trip you.’ So, it was an accident and let’s get it fixed. I might have had a foot on the court, I don’t know, the box isn’t real big.”

Later, near the beginning of the second half, Gian Clavell of the Rams went up for a layup and Nick Faust came down with a knee to Clavell’s neck/head area. The foul was reviewed but ultimately called just a foul instead of a flagrant.

https://twitter.com/TuesWithMitch/status/672627153616277505

After watching the replay, it seems clear Faust extends the leg and it should’ve been a flagrant foul.

Then, at the end of the game with the 49ers with a comfortable lead, Gabe Levin fouled Clavell and the two went into the Rams bench. Suddenly, both teams came together in a giant heap of people which had to be separated by the referees. It was the closest thing I’ve seen to a brawl since being on the Rams beat in 2011.

In the end, 44 fouls were called and the Long Beach State 49ers won 83-77. If the two teams play one another again in the near future, look out; it will likely get physical once again.