Washington 84, Long Beach St. 69

By now, I've learned not to doubt Lorenzo Romar.

But every once in a while, some small neuron of unease activates inside my brain, like tonight, against Long Beach State, when Romar had his team playing zone for most of the second half while the 49ers got closer and closer and closer.

It wasn't so much that LBS was scoring in bunches against the zone, but rather that when the Huskies go away from man defense they are far less likely to get steals and the resultant easy buckets. Going zone makes them score less.

As soon as LBS tied the score at 61 with 9:40 left, that's when Romar went back to man. And I immediately understood.

He'd been playing zone to rest his players so that when he finally went back to man, they could pressure the 49ers heavily, with fresher legs.

Playing in man, the Dawgs outscored the 49ers 23-8 the rest of the way.

And this is why I never doubt Lorenzo Romar.

The 49ers defensive strategy was to collapse on Jon Brockman and force the Dawgs to beat them with outside shooting. Pretty good idea by new coach Dan Monson, considering the Dawgs shot 8-36 from three during their NYC trip.

But the Dawgs shot well tonight, hitting nearly 60% of their shots from three-point range, including 6-6 in the 2nd half.

Huskies play next on Saturday, at Oklahoma St., at 2:30pm. The game will be on ESPN.