LONG BEACH, Calif. – After an outstanding first season at Long Beach State, Gavin Sykes was named the Big West Freshman of the Year as announced by the conference office on Tuesday.
Sykes also earned Second Team All-Big West honors and was joined in recognition from the league’s coaches by sophomore Petar Majstorovic, who received Honorable Mention.
Sykes ended the season with a 34-point performance in a win at Hawai’i, closing the season averaging 19.4 points per game, one of six elite freshman scorers in the nation averaging over 19 points per game.
He broke the freshman season scoring record at Long Beach State held by Lucious Harris, as well as the freshman single-game scoring record, ultimately finishing with 30+ points on four occasions throughout the season and scoring 20+ 15 times. His 20.9 points per game in league play was second-most in the league, his 542 total points this season ranked as the 25th most in school history, and his 19.5 points per game tied for the 15th-highest average in program history.
Sykes becomes the fourth player to receive Big West Freshman of the Year from Long Beach State, joining Larry Anderson in 2009, James Cotton in 1994, and Lucious Harris in 1990.
Petar Majstorovic led Long Beach State in rebounding and was second in scoring on the way to Honorable Mention All-Big West honors. Majstorovic had three double-doubles on the year, scored 20+ nine times, and was 10th in the Big West in scoring in league play, averaging 15.0 points per game.
