Thursday, December 29
Long Beach, Calif.
7 p.m.
Long Beach State University
6-7,0-0Big West
83
vs
85
UC San Diego
6-7,0-0Big West
1
2
OT 1
F
UC San Diego
29
44
12
85
Long Beach St.
32
41
10
83
Photo by: ©John Fajardo Photography
Long Beach State Drops Close Overtime Contest to UC San Diego in Big West Opener
12/29/2022 10:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Joel Murray had a season-high 22 points and Aboubacar Traore recorded a double-double in the Beach’s loss
Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Joel Murray poured in a season-high 22 points in Long Beach State's Big West opener, but the Beach came up just short in an 85-83 overtime loss to UC San Diego on Thursday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (6-7, 0-1 Big West) out-shot the Tritons (6-7, 1-0 Big West) 42.1 percent to 38.9 percent in the game, and held the lead in rebounding (48-44), assists (16-13), and blocks (5-4) in the back-and-forth contest that saw 12 ties and six lead changes.
Murray finished the game shooting 38.5 percent from the field as he made 10-of-26 field goals for a season-high 22 points to go along with four rebounds. He led a trio of double-figure scorers in Marcus Tsohonis (13 points) and Aboubacar Traore (12 points). Tsohonis also added seven boards to tie his career-high and dished out a new career-best with six assists. Traore finished with a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) marking his fifth of the season.
UC San Diego didn't waste any time getting on the board as the Tritons took a quick 5-0 lead over the Beach to open the game. The visitors then used a 9-0 run to open up a 10-point advantage (16-6) by 14:22. However, Long Beach State was unfazed as the Beach played their game and rattled off seven-straight points of their own to cut the Tritons' lead down to three (16-13) with 10:53 on the clock. LBSU continued to fight and evened things up at 21-all on a Traore layup at 6:30, before taking their first lead of the game at 5:00 on a three from Jadon Jones (24-23). A layup from Murray with just one minute remaining in the half gave Long Beach State a 32-29 halftime lead over UC San Diego.
Long Beach State was quick to extend their lead in the second half as Tsohonis' pull up jumper gave the Beach a five-point edge (34-29) just 12 seconds into action. UCSD wouldn't remain quiet for long as the Tritons evened the score at 38-38 with 17:23 on the clock. The back-and-forth game between the conference foes continued as the Beach took their largest lead of the game (44-38) with 15:00 on the clock after a Murray layup. LBSU held a slight edge over UCSD for the next several minutes, but the Tritons tied the game again at 50-all, with 10:58 remaining. The Beach, once again, managed to take a six-point lead (62-56) with 7:06 left, but they couldn't shake the Tritons who bounded back and took a 64-62 lead with 5:20 left in the game. The final five minutes of regulation were a battle but the Beach was up to the challenge as Murray's pull up jumper with 34 seconds remaining tied the game (73-73) to force overtime.
The overtime period was much like the first two halves as both teams played each other very evenly. UCSD shot 43.8 percent to LBSU's 41.0 percent, and outscored the Beach by just two points. The two teams continued to trade leads and found themselves deadlocked at 83-83 with 23 seconds left to play. With just 1.3 seconds remaining, UC San Diego's Bryce Pope scored the game winner as the Beach were unable to counter.
Pope would finish the game with 25 points, while Justin DeGraaf added 14 points, and Emmanuel Tshimanga recorded 12. Francis Nwaokorie and Roddie Anderson III each concluded the game with 10 points. Pope and Tshimanga also finished with eight boards each, while Anderson dished out six assists.
Long Beach State will host UC Riverside on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Joel Murray poured in a season-high 22 points in Long Beach State's Big West opener, but the Beach came up just short in an 85-83 overtime loss to UC San Diego on Thursday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (6-7, 0-1 Big West) out-shot the Tritons (6-7, 1-0 Big West) 42.1 percent to 38.9 percent in the game, and held the lead in rebounding (48-44), assists (16-13), and blocks (5-4) in the back-and-forth contest that saw 12 ties and six lead changes.
Murray finished the game shooting 38.5 percent from the field as he made 10-of-26 field goals for a season-high 22 points to go along with four rebounds. He led a trio of double-figure scorers in Marcus Tsohonis (13 points) and Aboubacar Traore (12 points). Tsohonis also added seven boards to tie his career-high and dished out a new career-best with six assists. Traore finished with a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) marking his fifth of the season.
UC San Diego didn't waste any time getting on the board as the Tritons took a quick 5-0 lead over the Beach to open the game. The visitors then used a 9-0 run to open up a 10-point advantage (16-6) by 14:22. However, Long Beach State was unfazed as the Beach played their game and rattled off seven-straight points of their own to cut the Tritons' lead down to three (16-13) with 10:53 on the clock. LBSU continued to fight and evened things up at 21-all on a Traore layup at 6:30, before taking their first lead of the game at 5:00 on a three from Jadon Jones (24-23). A layup from Murray with just one minute remaining in the half gave Long Beach State a 32-29 halftime lead over UC San Diego.
REJECTED! A block from Aboubacar Traore, leads to 3? for Jadon Jones on the other side! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/AYUvMUJ2EO
— LBSU Men's Basketball (@LBSUMBB) December 30, 2022
Long Beach State was quick to extend their lead in the second half as Tsohonis' pull up jumper gave the Beach a five-point edge (34-29) just 12 seconds into action. UCSD wouldn't remain quiet for long as the Tritons evened the score at 38-38 with 17:23 on the clock. The back-and-forth game between the conference foes continued as the Beach took their largest lead of the game (44-38) with 15:00 on the clock after a Murray layup. LBSU held a slight edge over UCSD for the next several minutes, but the Tritons tied the game again at 50-all, with 10:58 remaining. The Beach, once again, managed to take a six-point lead (62-56) with 7:06 left, but they couldn't shake the Tritons who bounded back and took a 64-62 lead with 5:20 left in the game. The final five minutes of regulation were a battle but the Beach was up to the challenge as Murray's pull up jumper with 34 seconds remaining tied the game (73-73) to force overtime.
The overtime period was much like the first two halves as both teams played each other very evenly. UCSD shot 43.8 percent to LBSU's 41.0 percent, and outscored the Beach by just two points. The two teams continued to trade leads and found themselves deadlocked at 83-83 with 23 seconds left to play. With just 1.3 seconds remaining, UC San Diego's Bryce Pope scored the game winner as the Beach were unable to counter.
Pope would finish the game with 25 points, while Justin DeGraaf added 14 points, and Emmanuel Tshimanga recorded 12. Francis Nwaokorie and Roddie Anderson III each concluded the game with 10 points. Pope and Tshimanga also finished with eight boards each, while Anderson dished out six assists.
Long Beach State will host UC Riverside on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+
Team Stats
UCSD
LBSU
FG%
.389
.421
3FG%
.321
.263
FT%
.909
.700
RB
44
48
TO
11
12
STL
6
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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