LONG BEACH — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team erased a 10-point second-half deficit but came up just short in its home opener, an 82-80 loss to Illinois State on Sunday evening at the Walter Pyramid.

Long Beach (0-4) rallied to tie the score at 70-all on a 3-pointer from Petar Majstorovic with 2:40 left, and the sophomore knotted the score again at 72 on a basket with 2:07 left, but Illinois State (2-2) made a jumper and four straight free throws to open a six-point lead with 22 seconds remaining.

LBSU got back within four after a pair of Shaquil Bender free throws with 15 seconds left, then, after an ISU free throw, got a three-point play from Cole Farrell to get within 79-77 with nine seconds to play.

Down four after two more ISU free throws, Majstorovic hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with seven seconds left. The Redbirds’ Johnny Kinziger then missed his second free throw and fouled Farrell with three ticks left, sending the junior to the foul line with a chance to tie the score.

Farrell missed his first attempt, but he grabbed the rebound off an intentional miss on the second and raced to the corner, but his 3-point shot missed as time expired and Illinois State held on.

Majstorovic finished with team-highs of 19 points and seven rebounds for Long Beach, while Bender scored 18. Gavin Sykes added 12 points and five rebounds, and Rob Diaz III contributed nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

Chase Walker and Ty’Reek Coleman both finished with 19 points for Illinois State, doing much of their damage at the free-throw line as the Redbirds shot 31 for 39 at the stripe compared to LBSU’s 10-for-18 showing. Walker shot 13 for 14 from the line and Walker was 7 for 8.

Kinziger shot 5 for 9 from the field (2 for 3 from 3-point range) to finish with 15 points.

Long Beach held an early 11-8 lead after a Bender 3-pointer, but ISU used an 11-2 run to take control. Long Beach State trailed by eight at halftime and was down by 10 with just over 13 minutes left in the second half, but an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers from Bender and Isaiah Lewis set the stage for a thrilling final 10 minutes.

Long Beach shot 48% overall (30 for 63), including 10 for 24 from 3-point range. ISU shot 47% from the field on 14 fewer attempts (23 for 49) and was 5 for 16 from behind the arc in a game were both teams kept the turnovers to a minimum (six each).

UP NEXT

LBSU hosts the “Battle at the Beach” event over three days later this week. Long Beach hosts Nobel – an NCCAA team from Buena Park – on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Nobel faces Montana State on Thursday at 3 p.m. before LBSU takes on Montana State on Friday at 7 p.m. to close the event.