LONG BEACH — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team made another late push but couldn’t catch UC San Diego in an 80-74 loss on Saturday night at the Pyramid.
Freshman Gavin Sykes had 20 points to pace Long Beach (2-8 overall, 0-2 Big West Conference), while sophomore Petar Majstorovic added 18 (and six rebounds) as the underclassmen again paced LBSU in scoring. Rob Diaz III contributed 12 points and five assists.
Aidan Burke had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting (4 for 5 from 3-point range) to lead UCSD (8-1, 1-0). Leo Beath finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Bol Dengdit also scored 14.
Long Beach State started strong, with Majstorovic knocking down a 3-pointer followed by a lob to Shay Johnson Jr. that energized the crowd. The teams were tied at 17-all when the Tritons went on a 7-0 run to grab a lead with just over seven minutes to play in the first half, but Sykes and Long Beach cut into that margin and trailed just 34-30 at halftime.
Long Beach started the second half with an 8-1 run, taking a 38-35 lead on a wide-open Isaiah Lewis 3-pointer that led to a UCSD timeout.
Tied at 42, the Tritons scored on five consecutive possessions during an 11-0 run that made it 53-42 with 12:33 left. UCSD extended its lead to 14 points (66-52) with 7:33 left, but the hosts were able to chip away. LBSU cut the margin to four points on a Majstorovic 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, but the comeback ran out of time as UCSD sank four free throws to close out the game.
Long Beach shot 46% from the field (29 for 63) and 9 for 28 from 3-point range (32%) but made 12 fewer free throws than the Tritons. UCSD shot 52% from the field 26 for 50) and 45% from behind the arc (9 for 20) while going 19 for 25 at the free-throw line.
The teams matched each other with 32 rebounds and 34 points in the paint.
UP NEXT
LBSU resumes nonconference play next week with a Tuesday night game at San Jose State.