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AUSTIN, Texas -- After Eric Davis Jr. finally made some shots and emerged from a season-long slump, teammate Tevin Mack turned to him and said, Welcome back, E.D.Back indeed, at least temporarily. Davis scored 16 points to help Texas erase a 12-point deficit and defeat Long Beach State 71-65 on Saturday.Mack scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half. Kendal Yancy added 11 points and some critical hustle.Davis, a sophomore, hit 3 of 7 3-pointers, a marked improvement after a 6-for-41 (14.6 percent) start this season. Last season he converted 38 percent of his 3-pointers.While he tried to work through his ordeal, Davis teammates provided encouragement.They said keep shooting the ball, Davis said. I stay confident. Thats who I am.Coach Shaka Smart is not so sure of that.Absolutely not, Smart said. Youd have to be a machine to not be affected by having a string of games when things dont go your way. Hes 19 years. Nobody wants to admit those sorts of things.Evan Payne led Long Beach with a season-best 26 points,Payne, a junior, made a career-best eight 3-point baskets. His 3-pointer early in the second half gave Long Beach (2-10) a 12-point lead.But Texas chipped away, with Mack and Davis combining to score 12 straight Texas points as the Longhorns overtook Long Beach and created separation.Davis made consecutive baskets, one a 3-pointer, to give Texas (5-4) a seven-point lead with less than six minutes remaining. Macks 3-pointer from the corner put Texas ahead by eight with 4:40 to go.Long Beach coach Dan Monson said his perimeter players were supposed to help defend inside against Texas big men, but not by leaving Mack, the Longhorns most reliable shooter this season.If you dont stay with the game plan, they are gonna burn you, Monson said. He sure did.Payne averaged 12 points a game before Saturday. He scored 17 in the first half against Texas, converting 5 of 6 3-point attempts while helping Long Beach to a 34-28 lead at the break.But the 49ers could not sustain the effort.We let them hang around, Monson said. In the second half defensively we got tired and just let them in the paint too much.BIG PICTURELong Beach: Monson has believed in aggressive scheduling since the late 1990s when he was the head coach at Gonzaga, setting the stage for that schools elevation to national prominence under Mark Few. This season the 49ers are 0-6 against teams from Power Five conferences by an average of 23 points. The 49ers also lost to non-Power Five Wichita State by 37. Before beating Pepperdine at home on Wednesday, Long Beach went 0-9 on a road trip during which it traveled 15,125 miles.We played this schedule to get better, Monson said. I think we got better today, but this team needs to reward themselves with some wins.Texas: The Longhorns began the game ranked last in the Big 12 with 42.7 percent field-goal-shooting accuracy. They hit 33.3 percent in the first half against Long Beach and broke loose in the second half to hit 53.8 percent and score 43 points.ADVANTAGE TEXASBefore Saturday, Long Beach State ranked 331st in the nation in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents 41 percent accuracy. Texas, meanwhile, ranked 337th in 3-point shooting accuracy at 27.5 percent. But the Longhorns hit 9 of 25 against Long Beach, a pretty decent 36-percent mark.UP NEXTLong Beach faces Oregon State on Friday in Portland, Oregon. This will be the 49ers seventh game against teams from Power Five conferences away from home.Texas faces Arkansas in Houston on Dec. 17 as part of the Lone Star Shootout doubleheader. Texas A&M meets Arizona in the other game. Discount Nike Free UK . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Cheap Nike Free UK From China . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. http://www.nikefreecheapuk.com/ . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Nike Free UK Shoes Outlet . Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. Cheap Nike Shoes UK . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Something had been missing from the Kansas State defense most of last season.It only took three plays this season to realize it.On the third snap of Friday nights opener against Stanford , defensive back Dante Barnett announced his return with authority. He darted up from his spot in the secondary and met Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey, knocking him back for a 5-yard loss.One of the nations best defensive backs was back.It felt like a welcome-back moment, he said Tuesday, as the Wildcats took an early break in their schedule. They are off this week before playing their home opener against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 17, when they debut the latest round of renovations to Bill Snyder Family Stadium.It will be the first time Barnett has played at home since last years opener, when he hurt his shoulder against South Dakota. His status was in limbo from week to week until he pursued and was granted a medical redshirt, allowing him to return this season.He wound up making four tackles against the Cardinal, two of them for loss.I had missed so many games so being back out there in the first drive, making that tackle, it brought excitement to me, Barnett said. I was happy.So were the Wildcats, who had to press unproven youngsters into duty last season. By the time the Liberty Bowl rolled around, freshman Duke Shelley had locked down one cornerback spot, sophomore Kaleb Prewett had taken over for Barnett, and freshman Kendall Adams was backing him up.Still, while may have been absent from the field, his presence was always felt. He hung around the meeting rooms, was also around the practice field and he was on the sideline during games.It was very tough because Im a competitor, Barnett said. I hate missing games, missing games was tough on me..dddddddddddd Im watching my friends play -- which I was proud of -- but wanting to get out there and knowing I couldnt was tough for me.In some ways, the senior had become another assistant coach.You wouldve never known he was out, Adams said. Besides not having him out there physically, he was in all the meetings and practices and talking to us before and during the game.Kansas State coach Bill Snyder welcomed his defensive captains return, knowing that Barnett could help fix a defense that allowed 285.5 yards passing and 25 touchdowns a year ago.The Wildcats only allowed Stanford to throw for 167 yards in their opener.I think it was significant to have him back in the lineup for a lot of different reasons. Snyder said. He played well. He did not really have assignment errors. He played reasonably well against both the run and the pass. I think his leadership, his guidance and his direction of his teammates was beneficial for us in the ball game.All of which was somewhat anticipated. Barnett may have missed last season, but it appears nobody forgot about him: Hes on early watch lists for the Bednarik Award and the Nagurski Trophy.Snyder said this week that besides the physical presence of getting Barnett back on the field, the leadership void that opened up last year was filled -- and that may be his biggest value.Especially when the Wildcats begin playing the pass-happy teams of the Big 12.I think he brings a degree of leadership that wasnt very prolific last year, after we lost him Snyder said. I think the players had an expectation of having him back, they see that as a positive. Theyre looking for him to perform well, which he did. ' ' '