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Long Beach St. Advances To Big West Final

ANAHEIM (AP) -- Larry Anderson scored 21 points and Greg Plater added 17 to lead Long Beach State to a 74-63 victory over UC Riverside in a Big West Conference tournament semifinal on Friday night.

The victory puts the top-seeded 49ers (22-10) in Saturday's championship game against the winner of Friday's late game between Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. Long Beach State lost to UC Santa Barbara in last year's tournament final.

The 49ers scored the first 15 points of the game and led by 20 in the second half. However, the No. 7-seeded Highlanders (12-19) fought back.

UC Riverside cut the deficit to six points on a jump shot by Phil Martin with 2:19 remaining, but Long Beach State pulled away at the free throw line.

Martin scored 14 points and Javon Borum 13 for the Highlanders.

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

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