STOCKTON, Calif. – 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 at next week's Big West Conference tournament in Anaheim. They will face seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara on Thursday.
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. The 49ers will meet eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton on Thursday.
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.
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