Tsohonis, Murray Lead Long Beach State To Third Place Finish At Baha Mar Hoops

Sunday, November 27

Nassau, Bahamas

2:30 p.m.

Long Beach State University

4-3,0-0Big West

Vermont

2-7,0-0America East

Long Beach St.

Vermont

Photo by: John Marc Nutt, Baha Mar Hoops

Tsohonis, Murray Lead Long Beach State To Third Place Finish At Baha Mar Hoops

11/27/2022 5:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Tsohonis scored 23 while Murray scored 20 as Long Beach State rolled over Vermont, 78-58.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

NASSAU, Bahamas – Long Beach State never trailed, riding the hot hands of their backcourt along with stifling defense on the way to a 78-58 win over Vermont in the third place game of the Nassau Championship in the penultimate game of Baha Mar Hoops.

                Long Beach State (4-3) was shorthanded as Jadon Jones picked up a knock against North Texas and was unavailable Sunday, but the Beach got a lift from a gritty performance from Marcus Tsohonis. Coming back into the starting lineup, Tsohonis scored 16 points in the first half to pace Long Beach State who held Vermont (2-7) to 32 percent shooting in the first half to jump out to a big lead.

                Holding the Catamounts off of the board for nearly the first five minutes, Long Beach State opened up a 13-2 lead on a Tobias Rotegaard 3-pointer and never looked back. The Catamounts would cut the lead to five points at 30-25, but the Beach hit Tsohonis for five straight points on two trips down to take a 10-point lead, and the Beach led by 14 points at the half, 41-27.

                Joel Murray took over the scoring load in the second half, chipping in 14 of his 20 points in the back half of the contest while finishing with seven assists, controlling the tempo of the game as the Beach snatched the momentum.

                Vermont never got within double-digits in the second half, and as the game stretched on, so did the lead. A Tone Hunter layup pushed the lead to 20 points with 7:37 remaining, and a final 3-pointer from Marcus Tsohonis made the score 73-51 in the closing minutes.

                Long Beach State finished with 44 points in the paint on 55.9% shooting, their most efficient night from the floor this season. Lassina Traore had 11 rebounds to lead LBSU on the glass, while Tone Hunter scored 11 points off the bench for the Beach.

                Long Beach State will stay on the road for three more games, starting against Utah Valley next Saturday at 1 p.m. with coverage on ESPN+.