Daily 49er, March 14, 2019

D 49

LONG BEACH STATE UNIVERSITY | VOL. LXX, ISSUE 37 | MARCH 14, 2019

er

commencement goes

OFF TRACK

President Conoley changes the graduation ceremonies’ location for the second time in two years.

Page 3

2 NEWS

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INSIDE

ON THE COVER

NINER

THE

The spring 2019 Long Beach State graduation has been moved to the Jack Rose Field, which could allow more guests to attend.

Students grab coffee and chat with ASI executives page 4

SAMANTHA DIAZ Daily 49er

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Opinion: Wealthy families buy their way into college page 7

Weekly ASI Senate meeting ends in conflict after an abrupt interruption from a Senator.

By Perry Continente Assistant News Editor perrycontinente

Off-agenda discussion of the mascot search committee during the Associated Students Inc. Senate meeting sparked conflict among the board, leading to a rare interruption of the vice president Wednesday.

Sen. Aaron Jordan spoke over ASI Vice President Leen Almahdi after giving an initial comment, violating the rule that senators must be recognized by the chair before speaking.

Senator Imani McDonald commented on the interruption.

“It’s essentially like a classroom, you must raise your hand,” she said.

McDonald added that it was a breach of protocol and the first time she had ever seen an interruption like Jordan’s.

During closing comments, Jordan said he felt students were not being fairly represented in the mascot search. He brought up student Jacob Ingram, who has spoken about the process at many recent ASI senate meetings.

“If you want to be transparent about something then you can’t have a senate with closed doors,” Jordan said.

He suggested that public meetings for the mascot search committee would allow students like Ingrahm to express their views.

“We’re kinda rushing it right now,” Jordan said. “I’m the type of person who really likes to take my time.”

Almahdi mentioned both she and President Genesis Jara had been in contact with Ingram, and there was an update in the previous meeting and that he would have known that if he had attended.

Jordan then interrupted Almahdi and said: “I watched the live meeting. Don’t say that.”

Almahdi replied: “Senator Jordan, don’t speak over me.”

Jara, who was in attendance, approached the podium to comment on Ingram’s past interactions with the senate but first acknowledged that she believed many of Jordan’s concerns to be valid.

“The first interaction we had with [Ingram] was an email to Almahdi and myself,” she said.

Jara and Almahdi responded to Ingram and said appointments to the committee by the senate would be unfair so they decided only people elected should be making the decision.

Jara said her eventual face-to-face meeting with Ingram was tense.

“To be quite honest it was a difficult conversation,” she said. “They were basically yelling at me, in my face.”

Jara said she was able to have a civil conversation with Ingram after he calmed down.

The next ASI meeting will be Wednesday, March 20 at 3:30 p.m. in USU 234.

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Editorials: All opinions expressed in the columns, letters and cartoons in this issue are those of the writers or artists.

The opinions of the Daily 49er are expressed only in unsigned editorials and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the journalism department or the views of all staff members. All such editorials are written by the editorial board of the Daily 49er.

Letters Policy: All letters and email must bear the phone number of the writer and must be no more than 300 words.

The Daily 49er reserves the right to edit letters for publication in regard to space.

NEWS 3

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SAMANTHA DIAZ | Daily 49er

The 2019 Long Beach graduation will be held at the Jack Rose track.

COMMENCEMENT

Graduation location changes again The spring 2019 graduation ceremony will now be held at the Track & Field.

By Kat Schuster

Editor in Chief coastalcatalyst

President Jane Close Conoley said in an interview with the Daily 49er Wednesday, the spring 2019 commencement ceremony would be moved yet again. In just two months, graduates will walk the Jack Rose Track, instead of the intramural fields.

“I don’t think people will really care,” Conoley said. “Now we’ll be able to offer more tickets … some ceremonies won’t even require tickets.”

Conoley explained the change was made to better accommodate those using wheelchairs, and compared the surface on the intramural fields to “legos,” saying it was too bumpy at last year’s ceremony.

“I prefer the change...it will be easier to explain to [my family] where the ceremony is,” said accounting major Marie Baroudi. “Honestly, I don’t think upper campus [was] that awesome to have the commencement venue, and the Pyramid is right there.”

Last spring semester, Conoley received backlash from the campus community after

In 2018, the commencement ceremony was held at the intramural fields. she announced at a routine Academic Senate meeting that commencement would be moved from the Central Quad to the intra-

CSULB Twitter

mural field. She also added that live music would be removed from the ceremony last year.

“We have to save money on something and we don’t want to raise student fees,” Conoley said at the senate meeting Jan. 25, 2018. “If it’s a disaster, that will be a story for those students to tell. They’ll say, ‘We were the class of 2018 and it was a disaster.’”

The president later released a statement and apologized for her choice of words.

“I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to voice their opinions on the proposed changes,” Conoley said in the statement last year. “These events are among the most important in the life of our campus, and the effects of these special days are far-reaching, so my team and I take each concern seriously.”

After a protest, a relentless stream of complaints on social media and a petition on Change.org asking to keep the live “Pomp and Circumstance,” which garnered more than 5,000 students signatures, Conoley announced Feb. 11, 2018 that the live music would be reinstated. But the decision to move the location remained.

This story will be updated.

4 NEWS

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ASI ELECTIONS

Connecting with the candidates ASI hosts Coffee With The Candidates for students to engage with their future vice president and president.

By Rachel Hanna Staff Writer

Students grabbed coffee and talked with Associated Student Inc. executive candidates Wednesday to receive information for the upcoming senate election.

The two candidates running for vice president and the two running for president invited students to come forward with questions about ASI government and what each representative will offer for Long Beach State during the 2019-20 academic year.

“Running has been amazing,” said Justin Contreras, a vice presidential candidate.

“We’ve been able to talk to a lot of different groups of students on campus. They’ve been giving us a lot of good ideas and things we can work on once we become elected. It’s been an amazing experience connecting with the student body.”

Contreras is running against current Vice President Leen Almahdi.

“Some things that we look to continue to

By Alejandro Chousal Contributing Writer

Animal rights advocates lined up Tuesday to plead with the Long Beach City Council to address concerns about the spcaLA Long Beach shelter.

During the meeting, animal rights advocates spoke up and held signs that read “No Kill.”

Several residents asked the council to turn the shelter into a no kill shelter during the public comment session. One of the residents who spoke up was Naomi Kwast, a third grade student at Lowell Elementary.

“I am here today because you are not caring for our shelter animals,” Kwast said. “I cried when I saw the dogs and cats scared and sad. I do not want to live in a city that kills animals. I think it is mean and rude.”

Alex Armstrong, a resident of 40 years who has been going to the city council meetings since last year also spoke about the shelter.

“Let our shelter do their own adoptions,” he said. “ It’s obvious to everybody that gets

ASI elections will take place online March 18-20. work on of course is bringing the aspect of diversity,” Almahdi said. “As you all know we are going through the process to disassociate from our former mascot Prospector Pete, and I’m really proud to be one of the folks that offered that resolution got that process started.”

President Genesis Jara is running for reelection against Lizbeth Velasquez.

“We are making sure that we are always

RACHEL HANNA | Daily 49er

advocating for students of underrepresented communities,” Jara said. “Those students are the ones that face more systematic barriers that can impede on their student success, but also their holistic wellness and we want to make sure that we are always advocating and not only that, but that we are being represented in student government of the student demographics that we have here on campus.”

CITY COUNCIL

‘No Kill’ advocates flock to Long Beach council Animal rights activists ask city council to address spcaLA shelters. involved that [Madeline Bernstein president of spcaLA] wants to control our shelter so there is no competition for adoption money.

Not only that, she feels that a lot of animals need to be put down if they don’t fit into a certain category.”

Long Beach resident Laura Sellmer said

she had seen the animal rights protestors at city council before. Although Sellmer did not call herself an advocate, she said she wanted to understand why they were going to the city council meetings each week.

“This city loves animals,” Sellmer said. “I went to the animal village because I wanted

Jara said the level of experience is what differs between herself and Velasquez.

Jara and Velasquez are running against each other and both have different goals.

“The difference between me and the current ASI president is that we are running on different goals,” Velasquez said. “Our goal right now is that we are talking about food insecurity and the different ways we can address that within the campus. Also talking about textbook affordability and financial aid while keeping the tuition at the same.”

Omar Prudencio Gonzalez, Senator atlarge, said this event is important because ASI wants students to be civically engaged on campus.

“We want students to become aware of the issues that affect them and their student leaders and their students,” Gonzalez said.

“And this is important because as students, ASI determines where a lot of the money and the budget from their ASI funds go to.”

Coffee with the Candidates will continue Thursday outside the 49er Shops Bookstore from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

a cat, a Long Beach cat, because I knew they killed cats. I found a wonderful cat, his name is Hank. When I came home I found out that Hank came from Culver City not from Long Beach and I found the answer to the problem and its that spcaLA has contracts with Culver City.”

Armstrong and Joanne Kwast of the Spay and Neuter Foundation, said all they want the city to do is to implement the No Kill Equation program which would raise adoption rates for animals and also provide better care for the animals within the shelter.

“With the culture of saving lives instead of killing them can turn around a facility,” Armstrong said. “You may have a large intake but at least you’re doing everything you possibly can instead of just turning around and saying, ‘Oh this is too much let’s just kill them’ and that’s unfortunately what a lot of shelters do.”

Attempts were made to reach out to the Vice President of the scpaLA, Miriam Davenport for comment but she did not respond for comment.

The next city council meeting will take place March 19 at Long Beach City Hall.

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ARTS & LIFE 5

REVIEW

Don’t fall asleep to Epik High’s latest EP “Sleepless In __________” Coming from a place of insomnia, “Sleepless In __________” touches on all the aspects of being sleep deprived.

By Suzane Jlelati News Assistant

S

outh Korean hip-hop trio Epik High, released its first independently produced EP “Sleepless in __________” March 11, and to call it melancholic would be an understatement. Drawing inspiration from the sleep disorder, insomnia, the album explores all sides of being sleepless; the good and the bad.

The three members: Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz have been creating music for 16 years and have spent countless sleepless nights creating new sounds, concepts and beats during this time. They’ve won multiple album of the year awards in Asia and are known internationally as the veterans of Korean hip hop — they’ve even played at Coachella.

For those of us who don’t understand Korean, you’d have to look up the translated lyrics to understand the album, but the instrumentals and the vocals convey a universal message of loneliness and sadness, which relates back to the project’s theme.

Because the album is about sleeplessness and the things that keep you up at night, the blank space in the title is up to the listener to fill in, as it represents a place or a location, or more specifically for Epik High, “Sleepless In Seoul.”

The group recently left its record company YG Entertainment. Under YG, they’ve grown and created multiple top charters but naturally, their contract ended and now they’re going to do things their own way, starting off on a personal and vulnerable note.

“Do you have trouble sleeping? Are you always sleepless?” Those were the first words on the documentary video, which was four days before the album release. It featured the members talking about what it means to be “sleepless.” The cinematography was dark and simple, putting the viewer in a calm and sleepless state of mind and forcing the viewer to think about their own perspective on the topic.

The album begins with “Sleepless.” A ro-

botic, female asks questions about sleepiness and sadness, accompanied by piano instrumentals that would compliment a rainy night.

The single for the album, “LOVEDRUNK,” is about the sadness that comes after a breakup. The featured singer, Crush brings his sultry vocals in this R&B ballad with the piano instrumental mixed with Tablo and Mithra Jin’s verses. The mixture of sounds synchronize really well. The song is reminiscent, in terms of sound, of its previous album, “We’ve Done Something Wonderful.” and the songs featured on there, one of them actually including Crush.

“Eternal Sunshine” takes on a more upbeat sound, but still sticks with the sleepless theme. Tablo asks in the beginning and throughout the song, “Do you get lonely? / Sick with anxiety? / Can’t trust nobody? / Well, same here…” The song is relaxing, yet includes record scratching and funky keyboards. While the song is about depression and anxiety, it’s a bit of a juxtaposition. For me, I see it as reality (anxiety) versus imagination (relaxation).

“No Different” features Malaysian singer Yuna and reverts back to the head bopping, ballad, R&B sound. The song talks about heartbreak through Yuna’s and Tablo’s contrasting voices, and shows the two sides of the relationship while at the same time conveying a sense of sleeplessness, both in the lyrics and in the beat of the song.

“Rain Again Tomorrow” returns to the upbeat mood to make the listener “sleepy.”

The three-minute song perfectly transitions into the final song of the EP, “Lullaby For A Cat.” The song is mainly instrumentals with quiet audio of Tablo singing in English about being lonely. He sings about being alone with the music in his room and the rain outside, once again connecting to the overarching theme of sleeplessness.

This album stays true to who Epik High is. They aren’t trying anything new or trendy, they are sticking to what they know and do best. Each song on the album comes from a personal place. The theme of being sleepless and what the members have gone through in their youth is something everyone can relate to and find comfort in.

Epik High

“Sleepless in __________” by South Korean hip hop band Epik High sticks to their roots.

6 ARTS & LIFE

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Kierstin Stickney manges her life as an employee at LBSU and a mother.

RACHEL HANNA Daily 49er

PROFILE

Three kids, two jobs, one woman With two jobs and a busy household, Kierstin Stickney wears many different hats on a daily basis.

By Rachel Hanna Staff Writer

A

s a working mom of three small children ages 3, 6 and 9, Kierstin Stickney is pulled in many different directions daily.

Stickney has worked for five years as the director of marketing and communications for the 49er Shops and a parttime lecturer for the College of Business.

“I enjoy working here for a lot of reasons,” Stickney said.

“It really works well for where I’m at in my career and my family. I love all my students, and it’s a good team of people.

I really enjoy the teaching aspects too.”

Stickney has many people that work for her, including her student employees who all resound the sentiment that she is a great role model and a pleasure to work with.

“Kierstin has added to the workplace by providing our office and surrounding departments with an excellent example of leadership and professionalism,” said Marketing and Communications Assistant Lauren Meyers.

Meyers said she has learned a lot from Stickney.

“She is warm, kind and never hesitates to help me with

any of my projects, which makes her a great role model,” Meyers said.

Even though being a working mom means juggling many things at once, Stickney said she enjoys being busy because she feels she is a contributing part to society and wants to be a good role model for her children.

“There’s lots of planning and trying to be present in all of these roles to be the best employee and the best mom at home,” Stickney said. “It’s wearing a few hats and wearing them all flawlessly which can be a real struggle.”

She said she there a lot of pressure is put on working moms these days and feels only a small amount of time in the day is left for herself, which can be exhausting.

According to Stickney, a significant amount of planning is involved every day to ensure her kids are taken care of while she works. While she and her husband both work, finances can be a struggle because on-campus child care is $1,000 a month.

“Where we work, we are all kind of in the middle,” she said. “We don’t make great salaries. A lot of moms I’ve talked to have stopped working because the child care costs more than what they’re making.”

While Stickney enjoys all the aspects of her role with the 49er Shops, she says her favorite thing about working at

LBSU is her students.

“Watching them learn, grow, evolve and fly into the real world is very rewarding,” she said.

Stickney stays in touch with her students and said she thinks it’s wonderful to see them flourish and contribute to the world.

“There is trust between her and the employees in the office,” said graphic designer for the 49er Shops, George Ly. “We, the employees, are pretty autonomous as she trust us to execute and deliver. Whenever we have questions or concerns on projects, she’s always willing to help clarify.

Stickney has added value to the workplace due to her work ethic and professionalism, Ly said.

According to Marketing and Communications assistant Sami Brown, working for Kierstin is wonderful. She is extremely helpful and supportive.

“Kierstin has made this workplace a safe and positive environment,” Brown said. “She always ensures that we are doing our best and that we have all of the tools necessary to succeed. She also makes work an overall fun and pleasant experience each day.”

Sickney said even though being a working mom is tough at times, she wouldn’t have it any other way. She enjoys working and is grateful for her children and her job.

OPINIONS 7

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The rich buy their children’s way into college leaving hard working students out to dry.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN GUITARE | Daily 49er

EDUCATION

Universities: Helping the rich get richer While wealthy individuals are buying their children’s fraudulent entrance into universities, those more deserving are missing out.

By Sabrina Flores

Opinions Editor sabrinamflowers

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rowing up, I was always conscious of how far money could get you in life. I knew this from firsthand experience as someone looking in from the outside, as someone who didn’t have this advantage.

Nothing has laminated this as much as the recent college admission scandal that has come to light. According to NPR, dozens of disgustingly rich and affluent individuals were traced to a variety of elaborate admissions fraud schemes.

With the help of William Rick Singer, the head of Edge College & Career Network LLC (‘The Key’), they paid off coaches and purchased fake SAT test results in order to buy their children’s’ entrance into institutions such as Yale,

the University of Southern California and Georgetown University.

As stunning as that is, it doesn’t end there; according to NPR, Singer was able to launder the money parents were pouring into his pockets under the disguise of a charitable foundation and for-profit college preparation business.

Between the years of 2011 and 2018, Singer collected more than $25 million from powerful and rich families, charging each family anywhere from $200,000 to $6.5 million for their children’s admission.

Details continue to surface about how Singer went so far as to help parents lie about their child’s athletic ability in order for them to gain admittance as a student athlete. In fact, according to NPR, Singer was accused of “photo-doctoring to copy and paste a student’s head on top of the body of an athlete.

What immediately came to my mind as I witnessed this story unfold was anger and lack of consideration for how

this impacted the admission numbers of less privileged students. For nearly eight years at the aforementioned college institutions, students from lower income backgrounds were denied access because their lack of money while rich students were pretending to be athletes just to attend.

As it is, these schools are already more selective than your average community college. According to NPR, the University of Texas admits four out of every 10 applicants while Yale’s acceptance rate rings in at a, wait for it, whopping 7 percent.

The admissions board for a university is entrusted with determining who is worthy of a higher education, but how can we trust its judgement when it appears that the people value the education of the rich regardless of merit, grades and athletic ability. According to Inside HigherEd, legacy students’ chances of getting into schools are two to four times greater than the average unassociated teenager.

As reported by NPR, some of the universities involved have defended their right to prefer admittance of legacy students, which justifies the perpetuance of a cycle where the lower income end up suffering.

I believe the only way to prevent this cycle from continuing is for the Board of Education to conduct a thorough investigation on the admissions policies of universities. The investigation should determine if the children of the rich are admittedly using the same standards for children of lesser backgrounds. If there are inconsistencies, both the parents and the universities should be held criminally accountable.

For every wealthy student accepted on the basis of money alone, a student who may have been more deserving misses an opportunity to attend the school of their dreams.

While it may be easy to focus on the wrongdoings of the rich, please don’t forget to prosecute the systems that allowed them to do so.

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SPORTS 9

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TRACK AND FIELD

Long Beach set for busy weekend

By Max Perez

Contributing Writer

With rainy days behind it, the Long Beach State track and field team looks forward to the USC Trojan Invitational and Baldy Castillo Invitational Friday and Saturday, to get its first taste of optimal outdoor conditions.

The beginning of the year has not been kind to the track and field training schedule, as it has had to constantly be modified because of the weather conditions this past month. The team will be splitting its athletes between the two events this weekend in different states for its first real opportunity to perform.The 49ers will send their sprinter and jump squads to the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Arizona, and their throwers and distance runners will compete in the USC Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles.

“This is one of the only competitions of the year where we split our teams,” head coach Andy Sythe said.“We’re looking for the right competition and the right environment for certain groups to perform in, and we have a great opportunity with these two meets.”

The meets appeared on the 49ers’ schedule last year, but unlike previous years, the team will take a different approach to their competition schedule.

LBSU Athletics

Junior Azaria Hill passes a baton off to senior Courtne’ Davis in the Beach Invitational March 2.

“We’re trying a new format with our competition this year, and we’re trying to compete every other week in the month of March so we can still get a lot of base training in and get them even stronger for the post season which comes up in early May,” Sythe said.

The 49ers are coming off their first out-

door event, the Beach Invitational, which showed off a lot of solid performances despite the rain.

Senior high jumper Vincent Calhoun jumped 7-03m, which is the No.1 mark in the nation and second all time in LBSU history.

The 49ers are on a hot streak right now, winning their last four and looking to maintain their momentum.

The Long Beach State women’s water polo team has three games this week, starting 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Bucknell.

The 49ers then head up to Northridge to play at noon Saturday and return home for another noon match Sunday to play Wagner.

No. 15 Long Beach is on a four-game win streak after sweeping the Aztec Invitational at San Diego State University this past weekend.

“I think against UC San Diego, we finally played to our potential. It’s really comforting to see from my standpoint at least,” head coach Gavin Arroyo said.

Long Beach held No. 17 UC San Diego to one goal, a season-low for the Tritons and the fewest the 49ers have given up this season. Arroyo said the win against the Tritons is the biggest win of the season so far.

“Eirini [Patras] played unbelievable,” Arroyo said of his goalie. “I think we were super engaged, super alert.”

Coming into this week, freshman attacker Orsi Hertzka leads Long Beach in goals with 47 and has the highest shooting percentage on the team with .904.

She also leads Long Beach in points with 49.

Bucknell comes into this week with an overall record of 14-6. The Bison have lost four of their last five games.

The Bison are led by sophomore attacker Ally Furano, who leads the team in goals.

Senior attacker Emily Konishi and sophomore utility Kali Hyham are second and third in goals scored for the Bison.

“I think the point of playing is we take advantage of all the big tournaments and big teams and now it’s slowly starting to narrow the focus toward playing at home and playing conference. It’s kind of the second phase,” Arroyo said.

The last time Long Beach and Bucknell faced off against each other was last season in a non-conference game, where the 49ers beat the Bison 8-5.

The Matadors come into Saturday’s game

Senior high jumper Bria Palmer cleared 5-09m in the event. Another No. 1 mark in the country was claimed by senior thrower Nicholas Hudson, who earned a mark of 62.59m in the hammer throw.

“We’ve already done what we ended with last year, so if we’re doing that in those type of conditions, this weekend should be great,” Palmer said.

Sythe echoed the excitement and said he is looking forward to seeing what his team will be able to do in better conditions.

“We get excited because we know something is gonna happen,” Sythe said. “We don’t know where that breakthrough is gonna come, but these two competitions lend themselves to a heightened sense of readiness and performance.”

The team hopes that the stagnant training schedules won’t have an effect on its upcoming event and that it will be on the right track to have everyone healthy.

Sythe specifically mentioned senior All-American sprinter and long jumper Kemonie Briggs as someone who he hopes will be able to jump and run on the relay team this weekend.

Even if the conditions are perfect and the roster is healthy, the team knows that it will face a high level of competition and will have to come with its best game.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

LBSU women’s water polo set for three-game week The 49ers look to add to their four-game winning streak.

By Teran Rodriguez Staff Writer

13-12 overall.

The Matadors have won seven of their last eight games and are currently on a threegame winning streak. The 49ers have played the Matadors twice this season, winning both meetings. Long Beach won 12-5 on Feb. 23 in the Barbara Kalbous Invitational and 10-4 on Feb. 10 in the Triton Invitational. Arroyo said beating the Matadors on the road will be difficult due to their pool being different than other team’s pools. “[The pool is] 25 yards, kind of shallow on one end and it always provides a bit of a distraction to the opposing team going in there,” Arroyo said.

Wagner enters the week 14-5 overall and is currently on seven-game winning streak.

The Seahawks are led by freshman attacker Sofia Diaz Alvarez, who leads the team in goals with 53.

Long Beach lost to the Seahawks 8-7 in the 2016 season Jan. 24 in the UCSB Winter Invitational.

This will mark the first meeting between the two teams this year.

10 SPORTS

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By Kevin Colindres

growing up, which helped Breamon extend his work ethic throughout his adolescence.

After finishing up his education at University High School, Richard was accepted into LBSU as a business finance major. In his senior year, he averaged 11.5 points and 1.8 assists a game, but didn’t receive many in state Division 1 offers to play basketball.

Sports Editor kevinjcolindres

B

reamon Richard just can’t stop smiling. He’s not used to being interviewed in his two years on Long Beach State’s men’s basketball team. His smile is contagious, and he can’t help but be nervous and energetic for another chance to help his team get to the big dance — even if he won’t be on the court much. His career is almost over, with only a week potentially left in the season if the 49ers lose in the Big West tournament, but he’s still as excited as his first day at practice, wearing a Long Beach State jersey.

A pit stop at LBCC

Started from the bottom

The 5-foot-10-inch guard averages less than six minutes a game this season, but is just happy to be on the team. From trying out as a freshman walk-on, to enrolling at Long Beach City College, to receiving his first ever basketball scholarship in his final semester, Richard has learned that hard work pays off.

Receiving a scholarship was the ultimate goal for Richard. In a video that went viral, head coach Dan Monson awarded him the scholarship he always dreamed of.

“I feel like I’ve started from the very bottom, and now I feel like I’m at the very top and that’s my experience,” Richard said. “I was in so much shock, I didn’t even know how to react, it was surreal. I didn’t expect anything, once I made the team that was all I wanted. When [Monson] blessed me with a scholarship it just reminded me of where I came from.”

The scholarship will cover the Spring 2019 semester and Richard will be refunded for all expenses made to the school in the spring.

“It’s why you get into coaching, to be able to impact kids and be able to reward those who are deserving,” Monson said. “There might be better shooters, taller players and better athletes, but I’ve never had any player with a better attitude than Breamon.”

Like father, like son

Richard’s mother, Briget Richard, can barely recall ever having a problem with her son. She was worried that as a middle child, he would be more rebellious. But he was always respectful.

“There was only one time I ever had a problem with him, and it was in kindergarten when he was on the basketball court when he wasn’t supposed to be,” Briget said, laughing. “It was something that was instinctively in him.”

Richard’s mind was set to become a 49er like his father Ronald Richard, who played basketball for Long Beach State from 198384.

The father and son duo were gym rats, playing almost every single day as he was

AUSTIN BRUMBLAY | Daily 49er

Senior guard Breamon Richard dribbles the ball up against Northridge Feb. 20.

PROFILE

Richard gets richer The senior guard receives a scholarship in his final season at Long Beach State.

“I wanted to try out for the team so I went to tryouts, but I was cut,” Richard said. “I just wanted to be a part of the team so Monson offered me a manager job.”

Doubt began to creep in and Richard felt he had to prove to himself that he could still play basketball, so he understood that taking the manager job would help him grow.

His time as a manager was useful, learning what practices sessions were like and what Monson wanted from his players, but Richard itched to get back on the court.

His passion to play led him to LBCC, where he transferred to expand his game.

Richard had one goal in mind: play his heart out for the Vikings and become a 49er after two years.

“I took what I learned from Long Beach State and applied it to playing at LBCC,” Richard said. “I was there to evolve my game so I could come back to Long Beach State and earn a scholarship and a spot on the team.”

He averaged 20.4 points and 4.2 assists as a starter for the Vikings, winning two All-Conference honoree awards.

After two years, Richard was sure that he would be called up to join the 49ers, but the call didn’t come when he expected it.

“I ended up calling coach and asked if there were any spots available and all he said was that he still hasn’t gotten his roster together,” Richard said. “I was just waiting and all I could think was, ‘Damn I went to junior college, put up 20 and I’m thinking I should at least be good enough to get a spot.”

A few days later, Monson called Richard to congratulate him — he’d earned a spot on the team.

Back at the Beach

It was tough and tedious, but Richard has no regrets about the path that has led him to Long Beach. His time at LBCC involved him taking a bus and a train to school from the heart of Los Angeles for practice Monday through Saturday. The commute would take four hours round-trip, which had Richard contemplating if it was even worth it.

“My parents were always in my corner and they always kept pushing me by telling me that it would work itself out,” Richard said.

“I thank them for that because it got me through a lot of my lows of wanting to stop playing basketball or just going somewhere else.”

see RICHARD, page 11

SPORTS 11

THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | SPORTSD49ER@GMAIL.COM

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The quest to the NCAA tournament Long Beach enters the Big West tournament on a five-game winning streak, facing Hawaii Thursday.

By Alex Manfredi

Deputy Sports Editor alexmanfr3di

Every year, early March is like a new season for college basketball teams aspiring to make the NCAA Tournament. Whether it’s a team in a power conference like the ACC or a team in a one-bid league like the Big West, everyone wants to make it to the big dance.

Luckily, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team caught fire at the end of conference play and is riding a five-game winning streak heading into the postseason. Energy is high and the belief that they can take out any team is there for the 49ers (14-18, 8-8 Big West).

In its first game of the Big West Conference tournament, Long Beach takes on Hawai’i Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The Rainbow Warriors are riding a two-game winning streak of their own, defeating both UC Davis and Fullerton on the road.

Long Beach hasn’t had success against Hawai’i this season, falling with losses by 17 points and seven points in the span of a week.

More specifically, the 49ers have struggled to contain Hawai’i senior point guard Brocke Stepteau, who averaged 19.5 points per game in the two matchups.

“Defensively we’ve just got to be more of

“

AUSTIN BRUMBLAY | Daily 49er

Redshirt senior Temidayo Yussuf catches his breath before shooting a free-throw March 6. the aggressor,” head coach Dan Monson said.

“We got lit up on ball screens and let their point guards get in the paint and they just wreaked havoc with us. It’s a fine line, we’ve got to be more disruptive on the perimeter, but we’ve also got to do a better job of keeping it out of the paint.”

The 49ers’ mixed focus has to do with Ha-

wai’i senior forward Jack Purchase, a second team All Big West selection this season. Purchase averages 12.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in conference play, providing the Rainbow Warriors with a mix of 3-point shooting and interior scoring.

“We’re focused on locking in defensively, transition, no paint [touches], contain and

contest is what we talk about every day,” redshirt senior forward Temidayo Yussuf said.

“We’re looking mostly at those things because those are what made us successful these last five games.”

The defensive focus from Long Beach is a result of the team being one of the best offensively in the Big West. The 49ers average 76 points per game, first in the conference.

Senior point guard Deishuan Booker and redshirt senior guard Bryan Alberts averaged 23 points per game and 10 points per game in Big West play respectively.

In the Feb. 7 matchup between the 49ers and Rainbow Warriors, Booker shot zero free throws. Free throws have been a key to the team’s success. Booker averages 9.5 per game and is currently tied for second in the nation in free throws made with 238.

“We know offensively we’re fine, make smart decisions and have Dei Dei [Deishuan Booker] control the pace of the game. We should win on that end of the floor,” Yussuf said. “Our biggest problem is defense, if we play defense as a whole unit, being on the same page and having communication we should be successful.”

With a Long Beach win over Hawai’i, the 49ers would advance to the Big West quarterfinals Friday at the Honda Center. The time and opponent are TBD.

The character of the program has been tested the last couple of years and we need guys that have the same work ethic as Breamon to shift the culture.

RICHARD

continued from page 10

Richard maintained his loyalty to LBSU because of the relationship he built with the coaching staff and players as a manager. Everyone was rooting for him to get on the team.

“The character of the program has been tested the last couple of years and we need guys that have the same work ethic as Breamon to shift the culture,” Monson said. “You can see how excited the rest of the team is for him. They have a lot of respect for him.”

Richard’s role changed tremendously once he stepped into the Walter Pyramid as a player. He wasn’t needed for scoring or distributing anymore. DNP’s, or games where Richard did not play, would begin to stack against him, but that didn’t discourage him. His motivation would eventu-

ally find him a role as a spark off the bench, but also as a nuisance on defense to opposing teams.

“When I was younger I had to play harder because I was always the smallest. I guess I’m still the smallest,” Richard laughed. “I pride myself on defense, and when I came back here we already had scorers and my job is to come off the bench to change the tempo of the game and get the defense going.”

Richard’s selfless character can be easily seen when he is asked about his favorite memory playing at LBSU. His first: watching teammate Deishuan Booker hit the game winning layup against UC Santa Barbara on the road last year. His second: his own half court heave at the end of the first half of the Hawai’i game.

“I never hit one in a game and I had never even attempted one, but Hawai’i had scored and I was mad so I ran down the court threw it up and it went in,” Richard said. “I couldn’t even be excited because I was still mad that they had scored on me.”

”

Dan Monson, Head coach

While his team may not always be victorious, his priority is to be a good teammate regardless of the outcome. Once his time playing at LBSU is over at the end of this semester, his scholarship will be passed down to sophomore guard Drew Cobb, who will keep the scholarship for the rest of his time at the university.

“It’s well deserved because he is one of the hardest working people on this team,” Richard said. “To see him get a scholarship makes me happy because it just goes back on if you work hard things will fall in line for you. To change the culture of Long Beach, you need guys like him on the team.”

His time at LBSU could be over after this week, but his journey and hard work have been an inspiration for his teammates, friends and family. Richard takes nothing for granted, and will continue to work hard in the next chapter of his life.

“It’s rare to find anyone who wants to put on that Long Beach jersey as much as Breamon did,” Monson said. “He stands for the what the program is all about.”

12 SPORTS

THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | SPORTSD49ER@GMAIL.COM

The women’s basketball team walks off the floor after suffering a 67-50 loss to UC Riverside Wednesday. Long Beach finishes its season 9-22.

RALSTON DACANY | Daily 49er

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Tempers flare as Long Beach is ousted by UC Riverside A balanced scoring effort by the Highlanders leads to a tough loss for the 49ers.

By Mark Lindahl Staff Writer

T

ension could be felt throughout the Bren Events Center as officials huddled around the replay monitor, discussing whether a technical or flagrant foul should be assessed to sophomore guard Shanaijah Davison early in the fourth quarter.

Sprinting out in transition, junior forward Marina Ewodo caught an outlet pass and stormed toward the hoop, only to be met by Davison with a full head of steam,

knocking her hard onto the ground in an attempt to block an easy layup.

Davison then stood over Ewodo until she received a blow herself, as sophomore guard Keilani Cooper jumped into the action pushing Davison out of the way, inciting whistles and shouts from all over the court.

Once tempers settled, Long Beach wasn’t able to regain the rhythm it had found in the second and third quarters, ultimately losing 67-50.

“I wasn’t really paying attention, I was just focusing on helping my teammate up because I saw what happened … I saw [Davison] looking over on [Ewodo] and thought

that was disrespectful and I couldn’t tolerate that,” Cooper said.

Davison was able to pour in 18 points of her own, but didn’t receive any help from her partners in crime, as Naomi Hunt went 2-11, including 0-6 from behind the arc, and Justina King’s lone point was scored on a split free-throw opportunity.

“I thought the game was fought in the trenches and won in the trenches … They were way more physical than us and they out-scrapped us,” said head coach Jeff Cammon. “The physicality of the game, we weren’t able to compete.”

“Talent is one thing, but it takes more than talent to win games and to sustain

that. We just need to develop on both sides of the ball … Our kids have to play more basketball,” said Cammon.

Riverside, on the other hand, was firing on all cylinders as every starter finished scoring in double figures, led by freshman forward Daphne Gnago’s 13 points and 11 rebounds.

With such a young 49er team, they can only get better, according to Cammon.

“Expectations were high for a group of young, young kids and I thought they stepped up and competed as hard as they could,” Cammon said. “If we work like we’re supposed to I think we can compete at the top of this conference no doubt.”