Bender, Majstorovic Led Rally Comes Up Just Short Against Hawai’i

Saturday, January 31

Long Beach, Calif.

1 p.m.

Long Beach State University

8-15,4-7Big West

Hawai'i

16-5,8-3Big West

Hawaii

Long Beach St.

Bender, Majstorovic Led Rally Comes Up Just Short Against Hawai’i

1/31/2026 3:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Both Bender and Majstorovic finished with 22 points for Long Beach State.

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

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State cut a 15-point lead for Hawai'i down to one point in the final minute, but couldn't quite finish the charge as the Rainbow Warriors held on for an 89-82 victory in Long Beach.

Petar Majstorovic and Shaquil Bender carried the scoring load for Long Beach State (8-15, 4-7 Big West), both finishing with 22 points, while the rest of the squad chipped in, with three players finishing with nine points.

The Beach got off to a strong start, finding Bender for a pair of early threes that helped the Beach open up an 18-11 lead in the first seven minutes. Hawai'i (16-5, 8-3) was able to chip away at the lead, first evening the score at 24-24 before ultimately taking a five-point lead into halftime at 36-31.

At the start of the second half, Hawai'i was able to get Isaac Finlinson loose to open up the contest. Finlinson was 4-for-5 from three, and he made all four in the first seven minutes of the half to help the Rainbow Warriors take a 56-42 lead.

The Beach were able to slow down the Hawai'i attack and then chipped away on their own in the closing minutes. Down 15 with eight minutes remaining, Long Beach State cut the lead to 10 at 70-60 and then used a 6-0 run to force an Eran Ganot timeout at 73-67 with 5:19 to play.

With just over a minute to play, Leopold Levillain was fouled and hit two free throws, and on the next trip down Majstorovic made a pair from the stripe to cut the lead to one with 54 seconds remaining. Dre Bullock made a big shot for the Rainbow Warriors, slowing the momentum with two of his game-high 26 points. The Beach still had a chance to tie with the final possession down 85-82, but a turnover forced Long Beach State to foul Hawai'i, who closed out the win.

Levillain finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, while nine points from Shay Johnson Jr. was a career high. Isaiah Lewis finished with six assists while also adding nine points.

Long Beach State will have just one game next week, facing UC San Diego on the road at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 5.