Long Beach St. Captures Big West Title

LONG BEACH (AP) -- Casper Ware scored 25 points and LongBeach State captured the Big West Conference regular-season championship with a 61-55 victory over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo on Thursday night.

The 49ers (18-10, 12-2) hold a three-game edge over the Mustangs (14-13, 9-5) with two league contests remaining.

Long Beach State, which stretched its win streak to seven games, earns the top seed in the eight-team Big West tournament, which is March 10-12 in Anaheim.

Chris O'Brien led the Mustangs with 16 points.

Cal Poly had taken a 50-48 lead with 4:37 remaining on Shawn Lewis' 3-pointer. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Ware and Greg Plater gave Long Beach State the lead for good at 54-50 with 3:25 left.

The 49ers led 31-28 at the half.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)