Hilo, HI - The USF Men's basketball team rallied from 29 points down in the second half and 11 down with 1:22 to play to tie the score, but Long Beach State's Lemi William's bank shot with four seconds left gave Long Beach a 76-74 victory over USF in the first round of the Big Island Classic Friday morning in Hilo.

USF (1-2) came out of the gate strong and led 13-10 eight minutes into the contest. But Darrell Tucker picked up his second foul and Long Beach ran off a 33-8 scoring streak to lead 43-21 at the half. USF was out rebounded 27-13 in the first stanza.

The Dons poor shooting of 30.4% in the first half continued into the second period and saw the Dons fall down by 52-23 with 17:48 remaining. But from there on out, USF took control. USF ran off a 27-3 run, including 19 points in a row to close the score to 55-50 with 8:38 left.

But Long Beach increased the lead to nine, before USF's lone remaining healthy point guard, Chris Barideaux, injured his knee on a drive through the lane.

The Dons trailed by 11 with 1:22 to play but didn't give in. Ali Thomas hit a three, as did James Lee to get the Dons to within five with one minute left. Then after some free-throws, Darrell Tucker hit a trey to make it a three point game with 39 seconds remaining. The teams exchanged free-throws before Darrell Tucker tied the game on a baseline slam with seven seconds remaining.

Long Beach State high scorer Lemi Williams 10 foot leaning back shot with four tics left was the game winner. USF guard Ali Thomas was unable to get off a attempt to tie or win the game.

USF was paced by 15 points by Thomas, 13 points by Hondre Brewer (along with 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots) and 13 by Darrell Tucker. The 49ers (2-1) were paced by 22 points by Lemi Williams and 15 by Ramel Lloyd. Long Beach State went 24-6 last year and played in the NIT.

"Just like the last game, we didn't come out and play as hard as we can," said coach Phil Mathews. "We didn't rebound a lick in the first half and didn't shoot well, either. It was a great comeback that took a lot of effort, but ther is no reason that we should have been down 29 points to Long Beach State. It was really a shame that Chris Barideaux got hurt. He played really well and was a warrior along with Hondre (Brewer), James (Lee) and Ali (Thomas)."