Shorthanded Beach Basketball Can’t Keep Up With UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, February 1

Santa Barbara, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

7-16,3-8Big West

UC Santa Barbara

14-8,6-5Big West

Long Beach St.

UC Santa Barbara

Shorthanded Beach Basketball Can’t Keep Up With UC Santa Barbara

2/1/2025 9:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score - UC Santa Barbara

A wave of bad luck for the Beach bigs spiraled in a defeat on the road against the Gauchos.

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

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A slow start offensively combined with some bad luck for the Beach led to a lopsided defeat on the road at UC Santa Barbara, 85-54 on Saturday night.

                Long Beach State (7-15, 3-7 Big West) started out the day with some bad news as Derrick Michael Xzavierro was out for the contest after an injury sustained in his double-double performance against UC Irvine, leaving the Beach with a hole to fill on the post even before the ball was tipped on Saturday night.

                Cam Denson got the game started with the first basket of the game, but UC Santa Barbara (14-8, 6-5 Big West) answered with a 14-2 run before the Beach offense got unstuck with a pair of jumpers from Kam Martin.

                The Beach continued to battle, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Devin Askew cut the lead back to three points at 17-14, but the Gauchos had an answer with a 6-0 run to push the lead back to nine points on the way to a 38-26 lead at the half.

                With Xzavierro not available, the Beach suffered another blow when Austin Johnson was injured in a collision, leaving LBSU without their regular starting frontcourt for the remainder of the game. UCSB took advantage, pulling away over the remainder of the second half on the way to an 85-54 victory.

                Senior Devin Askew finished with his second double-double of the season, leading Long Beach State in both scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Martin added 13 for the Beach as the only other player for LBSU in double-figures. Stephan Swenson led UCSB with 20 points.

                Long Beach State will return to the Walter Pyramid for two home games next week, hosting UC Davis on Thursday night before facing CSUN on Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.