Pacific Routs Long Beach State In Thomason's Final Home Game

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) Pacific made sure coach Bob Thomason's last home game after 25 years at the school was a memorable one, knocking off first-place Long Beach State 71-51 on Saturday.

Taku Sama scored 14 points and Colin Beatty had 10 as the Tigers (19-12, 13-5) secured the No. 2 seed in next week's Big West Conference tournament.

Long Beach (18-12, 14-4), which had already locked up the top seed coming into the game, got 12 points from James Ennis and 11 from Deng Deng.

Thomason is retiring at the end of this season after a quarter century at Pacific. The 63-year-old coach is 432-321 with the Tigers and is the Big West's career wins leader after passing Jerry Tarkanian in December. Overall, including a three-year stint at Division III Cal State Stanislaus, Thomason has a 484-344 coaching record.