Historic Night On The Glass For Aboubacar Traore Highlights Blowout Win Over Bethesda

Wednesday, December 8

Long Beach, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

3-6,0-0Big West

102

Bethesda

0-10

Bethesda (CA)

Long Beach St.

102

Photo by: John Fajardo

Historic Night On The Glass For Aboubacar Traore Highlights Blowout Win Over Bethesda

12/8/2021 10:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score - Bethesda

Traore had a double-double with 11 points and 20 rebounds.

By: Roger Kirk, Assistant Athletics Director, Athletic Communications

LONG BEACH, Calif. – True freshman Aboubacar Traore became the first Beach player since 1983 to pick up 20 rebounds in a single game, recording his first career double-double as Long Beach State dominated the glass and Bethesda in a 102-69 victory.

                Traore's 20-rebound effort was just the sixth in 72-year history of the program and the first since Michael Zeno in January 1983, 39 seasons ago. That was part of a 60-rebound night as a team, the most rebounds in the Dan Monson era for the Beach.

                Jordan Roberts also set a career high with 20 points, while Colin Slater led the team in scoring with 21 points on the evening. Joel Murray also hit double-figures while playing a season-low minutes against Bethesda (2-10).

                Long Beach State (3-6) took an early lead, but Bethesda held tight over a high-scoring opening stretch, even taking a brief lead at 17-16. The Beach would pull back in front, and opened the game up with a 12-0 run kickstarted by a Tobias Rotegaard 3-pointer. A Slater drive would push the lead to 16, and a breakaway dunk from Traore pushed the edge up to 22, which was the halftime lead for LBSU.

LOOK OUT BELOW!! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/HS2TM7LrL1
— LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) December 9, 2021

                Turning more to younger players in the second half allowed Traore to continue to work in a team-high 28 minutes while the Beach continued to grow their lead. In addition to Roberts, Rotegaard and Jeffrey Yan set career highs while Eddie Scott set his LBSU best in scoring as Long Beach State ultimately took a 34-point lead on the way to the 102-69 win.

                The Beach doubled up the Flames on the glass, 60-29 with 19 offensive rebounds and scored 25 second-chance points to just two for Bethesda, a dominant performance in the paint that helped offset an even night between the teams on points off of turnovers.

                Long Beach State will face a tough test on Sunday, facing their second ranked opponent of the year in No. 16 USC. The Beach will take on the Trojans at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Galen Center with coverage provided by Pac-12 Networks.