Wainwright’s Big Night Leads Long Beach State Past Pepperdine

Thursday, December 19

Malibu, Calif.

6 p.m.

Long Beach State University

5-8,2-0Big West

Pepperdine

5-7,0-0WCC

Long Beach St.

Pepperdine

Wainwright’s Big Night Leads Long Beach State Past Pepperdine

12/19/2024 8:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score - Pepperdine

Wainwright scored a season-high 26 points as Long Beach State held on to defeat the Waves in Malibu.

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

MALIBU, Calif. – Junior TJ Wainwright set a new team-high with six 3-pointers, leading Long Beach State with a season-high 26 points as the Beach went on the road and defeated Pepperdine 79-76 in their final game away from home in the non-conference.

                Pepperdine (5-7) got off to a quick start, opening up a seven-point lead capped by an alley oop to Boubacar Coulibaly to put the Waves in front 18-11 with just under 13 minutes remaining.

                Wainwright went supernova at that point, scoring two quick buckets to cut the lead to three and then the Beach found Varick Lewis in the corner for three to tie the game at 18-18. That was part of a 15-2 run for Long Beach State (5-8) that was only stopped by a technical foul as the Beach turned around and opened up a six-point lead. Wainwright then hit his fourth and final three of the first half, going 4-for-4 from long range in the first 20 as the Beach took a 45-36 lead into halftime.

                Though Long Beach State's scoring 3-point shooting cooled off in the second half, the Beach never trailed. Pepperdine cut the lead back to two on a couple of occasions, the but Beach answered with big shots of their own. The lead mostly remained in single-digits as the home team slowly pulled back into the contest.

                The Waves were led by their own star night from Stefan Todorovic, who finished with 32 points and cut the lead to one point at 72-71 with 1:24 remaining. The Beach got a huge shot from Kam Martin, a corner three with time expiring on the shot clock to push the lead back up to four at 75-71, and closed out the win 79-76 from Firestone Fieldhouse.

                In addition to Wainwright's 26, Devin Askew added 18 and had a team-high three assists, while sophomore Varick Lewis added nine off the bench as the Beach dominated the second wave, 41-7 in bench points on Thursday night.

                Long Beach State closes out non-conference play with one more home game, hosting La Sierra on Sunday, December 22 inside of the Walter Pyramid. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. with live coverage on ESPN+.