Thursday, January 25
Long Beach, Calif.
7 p.m.
Long Beach State University
12-8,4-4Big West
61
vs
72
UC Irvine
14-6,7-1Big West
1
2
F
UC Irvine
41
31
72
Long Beach St.
24
37
61
Off Night Offensively Harms Long Beach State In Loss To UC Irvine
1/25/2024 10:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Marcus Tsohonis led Long Beach State with 15 points.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – In front of a crowd 3,000 strong inside of the Walter Pyramid, UC Irvine jumped out to an early lead, capitalizing on poor shooting from Long Beach State to ultimately hold off the Beach 72-61 Thursday night.
Long Beach State (12-8, 4-4 Big West) shot just 32.8 percent on the evening, and defense carried the day throughout but particularly in the opening minutes. UC Irvine led 12-8 after the first five minutes, and the Beach cut the edge to just two points on an inside touch from Lassina Traore, who finished with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
UC Irvine (14-6, 7-1 Big West) responded with their best stretch of the night, a 16-3 run that helped push the Anteaters to a 41-24 halftime edge as the Beach shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half.
Long Beach State got a lift in the second half from freshman Varick Lewis, who scored nine points off of the bench and sparked the crowd with a three to cut the lead to 14 at 55-41 with 10:56 remaining. Coming off of an AJ George steal in the next possession, the Beach found Messiah Thompson in the wing but his open transition three didn't fall in what was the team's best chance to pull back the momentum on the evening.
The Beach would claw back the UCI lead to just 11 points by the end of the game, but the damage was done from the first half in the defeat. Marcus Tsohonis led Long Beach State with 15 points, the sole double-figure scorer for LBSU while Traore and Lewis both had nine points.
Long Beach State will be back in action in two days, facing UC Riverside on the road on Saturday. The game will be simulcast on Spectrum SportsNet and ESPN+ and is scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m.
Long Beach State (12-8, 4-4 Big West) shot just 32.8 percent on the evening, and defense carried the day throughout but particularly in the opening minutes. UC Irvine led 12-8 after the first five minutes, and the Beach cut the edge to just two points on an inside touch from Lassina Traore, who finished with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
UC Irvine (14-6, 7-1 Big West) responded with their best stretch of the night, a 16-3 run that helped push the Anteaters to a 41-24 halftime edge as the Beach shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half.
Long Beach State got a lift in the second half from freshman Varick Lewis, who scored nine points off of the bench and sparked the crowd with a three to cut the lead to 14 at 55-41 with 10:56 remaining. Coming off of an AJ George steal in the next possession, the Beach found Messiah Thompson in the wing but his open transition three didn't fall in what was the team's best chance to pull back the momentum on the evening.
The Beach would claw back the UCI lead to just 11 points by the end of the game, but the damage was done from the first half in the defeat. Marcus Tsohonis led Long Beach State with 15 points, the sole double-figure scorer for LBSU while Traore and Lewis both had nine points.
Long Beach State will be back in action in two days, facing UC Riverside on the road on Saturday. The game will be simulcast on Spectrum SportsNet and ESPN+ and is scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Irvine
LBSU
FG%
.413
.328
3FG%
.320
.313
FT%
.923
.667
RB
37
39
TO
14
18
STL
13
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
6
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Guard
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