NORTHRIDGE — Long Beach State freshman Gavin Sykes is already one of the top young scorers in the nation, but he took things to a new level on Saturday night.

Sykes scored a career-high 34 points on Saturday to lead LBSU to an 87-80 victory over Cal State Northridge at the Matadome. Sykes, who shot 8 for 18 from the field (3 for 9 from 3-point range), scored 24 of his points in the second half and made all but one of his 16 free throws as Long Beach (8-11 overall, 4-3 Big West) won its third straight game and handed CSUN its first home loss of the season.

Rob Diaz III scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4 for 6 from 3-point range) and grabbed a team-best six rebounds for Long Beach, which now finds itself in a four-way tie for third place in the conference standings. Petar Majstorovic scored 14 points.

Larry Hughes Jr. scored 21 to pace CSUN (11-9, 4-4). James Evans Jr. added 17 points, Josh O’Garro had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Josiah Davis finished with 13 points and 10 assists.

Long Beach fell behind early, with Majstorovic and Leopold Levillain each whistled for two fouls in the opening minutes. Trailing 27-22 with just under eight minutes left in the first half, Coach Chris Acker reinserted his French big men and LBSU went on a 13-2 run to take a 35-30 lead. Long Beach went cold after that, and the Matadors closed the half on an 8-0 run for a 38-35 advantage.

Hughes was fouled on the first possession of the second half and hit three free throws to push the CSUN lead to 41-35, but LBSU answered.

Diaz hit two quick 3-pointers to close the gap, then Majstorovic made one from the corner to tie the score at 46-all. Diaz and Sykes then combined for two more back-to-back 3-pointers as Long Beach took a 54-50 lead.

CSUN used a 9-2 run to regain the lead at 67-65 with just over eight minutes remaining, but a Dallas Washington putback on missed free throw from Bender put the visitors back in front.

Sykes took control from there. He made two 3-pointers for a 77-71 lead with 3:43 left. CSUN made one final push, pulling within 77-76 and still trailing just 79-76 with 1:24 left. However, after drawing a foul, Hughes missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the free throw line, and Sykes answered with a traditional three-point play for an 82-76 lead with 59 seconds lef.

The Matadors got within 83-80 on a Mahmoud Fofana putback layup with 24 seconds left, but Sykes hit two clutch free throws moments later to help secure the win. CSUN missed its final four shots, three from 3-point range.

Sykes scored 16 of the last 19 points for Long Beach, which outscored CSUN 52-42 in the second half.

LBSU shot 46.6% from the field, 10 for 30 from 3-point range and 23 for 28 from the free-throw line and held an 18-9 advantage in fast-break points. CSUN shot 40.9% overall, 5 for 19 from behind the arc and 21 for 29 from the free-throw line while outrebounding Long Beach 43-32.

UP NEXT

LBSU plays at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday at 7 p.m. before hosting UC Santa Barbara next Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Pyramid.

CSUN has Thursday off then plays at Hawaii next Saturday at 9 p.m. PT.