Thursday, December 20
Long Beach, Calif.
7:00 P.M.
Long Beach State University
4-9
67
vs
66
Pepperdine
6-7
1
2
F
Pepperdine
31
35
66
Long Beach State
31
36
67
Photo by: John Fajardo
Long Beach State Grinds Out 67-66 Win Over Pepperdine
12/20/2018 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Beach took it down to the wire and pulled out a 67-66 win over Pepperdine on Thursday night, getting two buckets from KJ Byers in the final 30 seconds. Temidayo Yussuf had another double-double to lead the Beach with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Long Beach State (4-9) was able to execute in crunch time to pull out an exciting 67-66 victory over Pepperdine (6-7) on Thursday night at Walter Pyramid. Temidayo Yussuf put up 21 points and 11 rebounds to register his fourth double-double of the season and KJ Byers threw down a pair of key dunks in the final 30 seconds to give Long Beach State the win.
The Beach improved to 3-1 at Walter Pyramid with the victory, and dropped Pepperdine to 0-5 on the road this season. Yussuf again led Long Beach offensively, but got some help from Byers late as the senior ended up with 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks. Bryan Alberts and Jordan Roberts each chipped in 10 points as well. Deishuan Booker stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, four rebounds, four steals, two blocks, seven assists and just one turnover on the night.
It was a cold shooting night for LBSU as the Beach went just 2/19 (10.5%) from beyond the 3-point arc. Fortunately, the Beach limited its turnovers and had a positive 13:11 assist-to-turnover ratio on the night. Long Beach won the rebounding battle 46-44 and the bench outscored Pepperdine's reserves 22-4.
Impressively, Long Beach State's largest lead was just four with 11:19 to play in the game, and it was a back-and-forth battle down the stretch. Byers gave LBSU a 65-64 lead with 30 seconds to go, converting a layup on a dime from Booker. After a pair of free throws from the Waves with 21 seconds to go, the Beach came down the other way and took the lead with Byers again. After Yussuf was double-teamed, he slipped a pass between two defenders to set up Byers for a game-winning dunk with 5.3seconds to play.
The Beach will now have a quick turnaround, hosting Colorado State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Beach improved to 3-1 at Walter Pyramid with the victory, and dropped Pepperdine to 0-5 on the road this season. Yussuf again led Long Beach offensively, but got some help from Byers late as the senior ended up with 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks. Bryan Alberts and Jordan Roberts each chipped in 10 points as well. Deishuan Booker stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, four rebounds, four steals, two blocks, seven assists and just one turnover on the night.
It was a cold shooting night for LBSU as the Beach went just 2/19 (10.5%) from beyond the 3-point arc. Fortunately, the Beach limited its turnovers and had a positive 13:11 assist-to-turnover ratio on the night. Long Beach won the rebounding battle 46-44 and the bench outscored Pepperdine's reserves 22-4.
Impressively, Long Beach State's largest lead was just four with 11:19 to play in the game, and it was a back-and-forth battle down the stretch. Byers gave LBSU a 65-64 lead with 30 seconds to go, converting a layup on a dime from Booker. After a pair of free throws from the Waves with 21 seconds to go, the Beach came down the other way and took the lead with Byers again. After Yussuf was double-teamed, he slipped a pass between two defenders to set up Byers for a game-winning dunk with 5.3seconds to play.
The Beach will now have a quick turnaround, hosting Colorado State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
KJ Byers gives Long Beach State the lead with 20 seconds to play! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/9fU4p0EmQb
— LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) December 21, 2018
HUGE slam dunk!! KJ Byers gives the Beach the lead back with less than 5 seconds to play! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/ovlp8zOxam
— LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) December 21, 2018
Team Stats
PEP
LBSU
FG%
.379
.391
3FG%
.222
.105
FT%
.588
.600
RB
44
46
TO
11
11
STL
4
5
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Guard
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