ANAHEIM – In the moments after a physical, intense and often punishing 40 minutes of basketball Friday night, Long Beach State was feeling ecstatic about the way it held on for a 77-72 victory over UC Irvine that advances the 49ers to the Big West Tournament title game.

UCI coach Russell Turner was feeling something much different, musing that “Our free throw defense wasn’t very good.”

Long Beach State went to the free-throw line 24 times in the first half and made 21 of the shots, enabling the 49ers to take a nine-point lead into the break despite only eight field goals.

The 49ers drew their lead out to 13 early in the second half on two Justin Bibbins 3-pointers. UCI chipped away at the lead, Jaron Martin making five 3-pointers, and took the lead over briefly 62-61, before the 49ers regrouped patiently, regained the lead and held off rival UCI at Honda Center.

The 49ers improved to 20-13 and will face top-seeded Hawaii (26-5) in Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. final, their first berth in the title game since they won it in 2012. UCI (25-9) came up short in its hopes for a second straight tourney title and NCAA bid and now waits to see if it receives a bid to the NIT or another postseason event.

In the waning minutes of the game, Turner yelled at an official on press row to “tell those three guys they cost us the game.” Deron White, Rick Batsell and Tom Nally were the veteran Big West crew working the game. The Anteaters were called for 16 fouls in the first half.

“Long Beach made the plays to beat us,” Turner said. “We expected to win and when we took the lead, I had the feeling we would win because I’ve seen that from this team over and over again all season. We just didn’t make any plays at the end.

“There was a high level of frustration in the locker room at halftime. There were so many calls, it was surprising. I didn’t know how to explain it.”

The 49ers took an aggressive tact on offense, deciding to go at the UCI big men rather than try and shoot over the Anteaters’ zone that has given them problems the last four seasons. The 49ers came in having lost seven of the last eight meetings.

“We went into attack mode early,” LBSU coach Dan Monson said. “I always tell them to love the rim, like the three. We just went inside out.”

Six 49ers scored in double figures – Bibbins (17), Nick Faust (15), A.J. Spencer (13), Travis Hammonds (11), Roschon Prince (10) and Gabe Levin (10). Almost all of the points from the last four mentioned came from inside, most notably Spencer’s four field goals in the second half, all short jumpers over 7-foot-6 UCI center Mamadou Ndiaye.

“A.J. did a great job just getting into that space and slowing the game down and staying in control,” said Monson, whose team has won 11 of its last 12 games.

“Everyone encouraged me to be aggressive and get in the middle,” said Spencer, a senior small forward. “You can’t go against a 7-6 guy every time and expect to score, but we felt we had to go at him.”

The other tactic was putting Bibbins, the 5-8 point guard, on defense against Anteaters star Luke Nelson, who was coming off a career-high 36-point night in the quarterfinals. Nelson scored five points, was 2-for-7 shooting and missed all four of his 3-point attempts.

“Bibbins has become an outstanding performer in this conference,” Turner said. “He’s a threat. Tonight his defensive performance was a big factor.”

Martin (21 points), Ndiaye (16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots) and Mike Best (12 points) led the Anteaters.

“There aren’t many point guards I’ve had who can attack the zone and direct a team’s offense, and then chase down (Nelson) on defense and do it on an ankle he twisted before halftime,” Monson said of Bibbins, who added six rebounds and five assists.

The 49ers led by nine at the half and 13 early in the second. The Anteaters scrambled back for a one-point lead at 62-61, but Long Beach scored seven straight to regain the lead.

UCI trailed, 71-68, with 1:18 remaining, but Aaron Wright missed a 3-point try. Long Beach got the rebound and worked the clock until Faust hit a jumper to make it 73-68 with 34 seconds to go.

The first half was a rugby scrum, bodies littering the court throughout. Ndiaye stayed down for a moment after a Long Beach player leaped into his head, Hammonds suffered a cut on his forehead and Bibbins left the court with an ankle injury after a collision.

The Anteaters went on a 8-0 run thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Ioannis Dimakopolous and Martin to take a 22-12 lead. Another Dimkaopolous field goal made it 26-20 with eight minutes left.

Long Beach outscored the Anteaters 19-4 the rest of the half, 11 of those points coming at the free-throw line, in addition to a monstrous one-handed dunk by Faust off a fastbreak lob from Bibbins.

That was Faust’s only field goal of the half, making the margin more remarkable.

In the early game, Big West Player of the Year Stefan Jankovic scored 24 points, Roderick Bobbitt added 21, and Hawaii (26-5) beat the fourth-seeded Gauchos, 88-76, to secure a spot in the title game for the second straight year.

Bobbitt, a first-team all-conference selection, hit four big 3-pointers to lead the way. He hit one as time expired in the first half to give Hawaii a 37-34 halftime lead, and followed with three quick 3-pointers in a 21-3 run to open the second half that gave the Rainbow Warriors a 58-37 lead with 14 minutes to play.

“Rod hitting that 3 at the end of the first half, that was the key play of the whole game,” Hawaii coach Eran Ganot said. “It really set the tone and carried us the rest of the way.”

UCSB (18-13) rallied a few times but never got back within three possessions. Michael Bryson scored 22 points and Gabe Vincent had 17 to lead UCSB, which saw its nine-game win streak come to an end.

“When you’re down that much, it’s just hard to come back,” Bryson said. “Give them credit. They made the all the plays.”

Aaron Valdes finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Hawaii. Reserve Alex Hart hit three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points for the Gauchos.

Hawaii, the first top seed to reach the Big West final since 2012, shot 52 percent (26 for 50) from the field, including 43 percent (9 for 21) from 3-point range.

UCSB shot 30 percent (8 for 27) from 3-point range and 59 percent (16 for 27) from the free-throw line.

News services contributed to this story.

Contact the writer: bkeisser@lbregister.com