LONG BEACH STATE NOTEBOOK / JASON REID : Greenberg Praises Team’s Recent Play but Sees Room for Improvement

Job responsibility dictates that Coach Seth Greenberg not leave well enough alone when it comes to the 49er basketball program.

So while his charges and assistants enjoy a four-game winning streak, Greenberg remains busy probing, analyzing and questioning. Although Long Beach’s recent play has propelled it into the Big West Conference title chase, much remains to be done.

“I thought we played good basketball part of the time,” Greenberg said. “I thought we rebounded well, our emotion was much better and we played unselfish.

“(But) we’ve still got a lot of questions. We’re working on it, but we don’t have the answers yet.”

Even during the streak, Long Beach suffered inexplicable breakdowns on offense. The 49ers held an eight-point lead over Nevada Las Vegas on Jan. 30 with about 7 minutes to play. Yet they were forced to rally for a 74-73 victory in overtime.

On Feb. 2 against Nevada, Long Beach took a nine-point lead with only 55 seconds to play. However, the Wolf Pack pulled to within two points with 20 seconds remaining before losing, 67-64.

“We let them back into the game,” Greenberg said. “Obviously, you don’t want to do that.”

OK, but there is a positive front too. Led by the strong play of senior center Joe McNaull and senior forward Terrance O’Kelley, Long Beach has overwhelmed opponents near the basket.

The 49ers are 11-6, 7-3 in the Big West. They are tied for second place with New Mexico State, one game behind first-place Utah State. Long Beach played its best game this season in defeating Utah State, 62-50, on Saturday.

“Playing (three) games in one week is hard,” Greenberg said. “I thought we did some good things, but now we have to build on it.”

The process continues with conference road games Thursday at Pacific and Saturday at San Jose State.

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Big man on campus--and in conference: The conference selected McNaull its men’s player of the week, the first time a 49er has won the award this season.

McNaull averaged 20 points and seven rebounds in leading the 49ers to an undefeated week. McNaull (6 feet 10 and 255 pounds) dominated against Utah State, setting his career high at Long Beach with 24 points.

He made 11 of 15 shots against the Aggies and shot 74.2% (23 of 31) from the field for the week. He leads the conference in shooting at 66.7%.

McNaull, a transfer from San Diego State, is in his first season at Long Beach. He was first-team All-Western Athletic Conference at San Diego.

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Nice scheduling: Men’s volleyball Coach Ray Ratelle must prepare for a lengthy trip he’d rather not take.

Long Beach plays its next six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches on the road, beginning Friday at UC San Diego. The 49ers, ranked third nationally by Volleyball magazine, do not return to the Pyramid until March 1 for a MPSF match with Pepperdine.

The 49ers are reluctant road warriors, but they didn’t protest to the federation office when the schedules were created last fall.

Why?

Ratelle said that with the Pyramid still heavily under construction at that point, he wasn’t sure where the team would play even if he could persuade the federation to make some changes. And besides, Ratelle said, he probably couldn’t have persuaded them anyway.

“It’s brutal,” he said, “but that’s the schedule they send you, so you just have to live with it. We knew it was coming; we’re just hoping to survive it.”

Long Beach (3-1, 2-1 in the MPSF) split its two conference matches last week.

The 49ers lost at Cal State Northridge, 15-10, 13-15, 15-7, 7-15, 15-11, on Jan. 31. They defeated USC on Friday, 15-9, 15-6, 11-15, 15-13, in the first men’s match at the Pyramid.

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Promising beginning: Sophomore right-hander Marcus Jones (Esperanza High) pitched well in his first start of the season.

Jones (6-4, 215) gave up seven hits and one run in six innings, earning the victory as Long Beach defeated Washington State, 6-4, Saturday in a nonconference game at Blair Field.

“He gave us a good effort,” said Coach Dave Snow, whose team won two of three from the Cougars.

Jones, a Times all-county selection in 1993, struggled as a 49er freshman, going 2-3 with a 6.12 earned-run average. He walked 29 in 42 innings.

Snow said Jones’ performance this season would be a key for the three-time defending Big West champions. So far, so good.

“I was very encouraged,” Snow said. “He was pretty focused. He pitched one pitch at a time and he handled adversity well.”

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Way to rebound: After a demoralizing 66-51 loss to UC Irvine at the Pyramid on Jan. 27, the women’s basketball team responded with three consecutive victories--two on the road--to climb back into the Big West championship race.

Long Beach (11-8, 8-3) is tied for second with New Mexico State. The 49ers play host to Pacific on Friday and Nevada on Sunday.

Notes

The women’s softball team, ranked seventh nationally by College Sports magazine, begins its season Thursday at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader on campus against Cal State Dominguez Hills. The 49ers play an exhibition game against alumni at noon Saturday. Long Beach has advanced to the College World Series the last four seasons. . . . The women’s tennis team (1-2) plays host to Loyola Marymount in an on-campus match at 2 p.m. Thursday.